


made for lovin' you

by cuddlerlouis



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Hate to Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nipple Play, Omega Louis, Rimming, Soulmates, Top Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 52,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27568600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlerlouis/pseuds/cuddlerlouis
Summary: “I’m in,” is all Louis receives. He blinks a few times, making sure he’s reading this right.“For real?” he asks, just to be a hundred percent sure.“Yes,” pops up. “How do you wanna pursue?” The alpha adds, like he’s on a special mission or something.“I’m gonna call us a cab to go to mine. Once I know it’s here, I’ll leave and join you there,” Louis explains. “I’ll text you to go around five minutes before it arrives, so it doesn’t look suspicious, and our friends don’t notice us leaving together.”“Noted.”So Louis does, and ten minutes later, he’s sat in the backseat of a cab, next to Harry Styles, the person he hates the most but unfortunately still finds attractive. They’re on their way to fuck in Louis’ flat.Splendid.-Or the one where a quick, horny decision ruins Louis’ summer plans, but may also lead to unexpected discoveries. Featuring the road trip of dreams, misunderstandings, and a bit of fate.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 90
Kudos: 514
Collections: Bottom Louis Fic Fest 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to the mods of the fest for organising it and being so supportive and accomodating throughout the entire process. Thank you Angela for beta-ing this and helping me out so much. And thank you to everyone who's been supporting me and cheering me on. 
> 
> Usual disclaimer that this is a work of fiction.
> 
> Hope you enjoy ♡

He should have specialised in educational counselling. Full stop.

He should have, but realistically he knows he couldn’t. As much as family counselling is a pain in the arse, he still needs to make ends meet.

Louis started practising at 23, fresh out of Uni with a psychology degree and diploma in counselling in hand, and it hadn’t been easy. Well, studying had been easy, for the most part. Throughout his education, Louis had been at the top of all of his classes, easily earning his degree and diploma thanks to his hard work, but finding his place had been hard, still is, really. Never mind his skills, Louis is an omega, so he had to work twice as hard as betas and alphas. He knew his worth, though, and never ever let anyone belittle him for his secondary gender, or question his skills and work abilities. 

From the beginning, his mentor, a beta psychology professor and former therapist, was set on helping Louis as much as he could. “You’re brilliant, Louis, you really are, but as much as society evolves for the better, your secondary gender will still cause you prejudice. It doesn’t define who you are or how good you are, but to some people it does, so it’ll be harder for you to find your place, keep your clients, and make a living. Specialising in two areas would be your best shot, it’ll ensure your career and money at the end of the month. Specialise in two close ones: that’ll be easier to navigate,” he had said. 

The choice had been simple. Ever since sixth form, Louis knew he wanted to help people, and as he explored the different subjects linked to psychology, he knew he wanted to help children. He also had been able to get an internship of three months in a school, closely working with a counsellor, and had loved it. Educational counselling seemed like the easiest choice. Following his mentor’s advice, Louis found himself looking for a field close to this one, family counselling seemed, then, a smart choice. 

Not now, though. 

It's Friday, a little after 5 pm, and Louis has had a long day. Not the bad kind, per se, just an exhausting one spent between paperwork and intense sessions. 

The last one is just the cherry on top. 

A couple is here for marriage counselling. It's the second time Louis is working with them, after they’ve been advised to try therapy instead of starting a divorce procedure, in the hope of working to rekindle the sparks of their relationship with the help of a professional. To Louis, it’s a total waste of time, as no effort is made from either side. Still, he stays professional and is willing to push it to the mandatory five sessions before letting them decide to either continue or directly go back to the divorce process. 

Louis is a patient man, an essential quality especially for his job, but he still has his limits. Being insulted and yelled at repetitively is one.

Things escalated quickly as soon as Louis asked them to tell one thing they didn’t like about the other in hopes of starting a conversation and initiating change. The husband had started, he was a bit harsh in Louis’ opinion, but they were able to hold an easy conversation and introduced different ways to communicate and work around the problems he mentioned better. 

When it was his wife’s turn, though, he started seeing red.

As soon as something was reproached to him, the alpha had started yelling. It went gradually: it began with a raise of voice, him finding excuses after excuses, and then evolved into full shouting, insults, and fists punching Louis’ desk, startling everything in the way. 

Of course, his wife answered everything back, shouting as well, encouraging and pushing the alpha on edge even more.

Louis had tried his best to calm everyone down, but unfortunately in vain. Instead, this only added fuel to the fire, and the alpha promptly turned his insults and shouting towards Louis.

“You shut the fuck up or I swear to God,” he started, startling Louis, his alpha voice now aimed at him. “This is all your fault with your stupid counselling sessions that do nothing except cost me fucking money,” he spat.

“Sir, please calm down. I’m going to ask you to stop screaming and sit back down,” he said calmly. “This is unnecessary and won’t solve anything.”

“You don’t fucking tell me what to do, worthless omega,” he shouted back directly. “You are no one to tell me anything.” First standing far back into Louis’ office, as if he meant to leave, the alpha moved up to Louis’ desk, pointing an accusing finger at Louis, a few inches from his face, leaving the omega no choice but to step back a little to protect himself. “You started this! If it weren’t for your dumb arse, useless therapy none of this would be happening!”

“This is the last time I’ll say this,” Louis said, pretending to be unphased by the events. “Please, calm down or else I’ll call security and they’ll deal with you accordingly.” 

He tried to stay professional or at least pretended to, but his hands were slightly shaking, hidden behind his back, a clear indication of how overwhelmed he felt, not familiar with this kind of situation and not capable of knowing how it would escalate and if calling for help was a good move. There’s a button under his desk that calls security just in case of an emergency, and Louis knew that if the alpha hadn’t calmed down or left in the next few minutes, he’d have pressed that button with no hesitation. 

Thankfully, he did. After a few more shouting and profanities targeted at both Louis and his wife, the alpha left the room, without much discretion, to say the least, but did nevertheless. As soon as Louis heard the door down the hall shut back loudly, he finally released a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding.

The silence is thick in the room, filled with tension and uneasiness. Louis decides to ignore his client, focusing on tidying up his desk and reaching for all the papers scattered on the floor, remnants of the altercation and the alpha’s tantrum. It’s the first time Louis experiences one this intense and rough. He’s had a couple of rows with clients in the past, a bit of shouting and some storming off his office early, but he’s never had to deal with screaming, insults, or someone threatening him and trashing his desk.

Once everything is back in order, Louis finally sits down and takes a few deep breaths, trying to relax and clear his head. He’s still staring downward and not sparing any glance at the other omega. Neither of them daring to speak. But Louis knows he should. 

He leans forward, brings his hands up, rubs around his temples and brows, trying to ease and ward off the starting headache forming here, and clears his throat. 

“I think it’d be best to call everything off,” he says, straightening up a bit to look straight at the omega. “Your husband is right. There is no improvement or will of improvement from either of you, so you are indeed losing money for nothing. If none of you wishes to continue and finish the three remaining sessions, then you should get back to your lawyer. If you wish to continue, though, I’m afraid you’ll need to find someone else, as I am no longer willing to work with you,” Louis declares sternly.

She understands easily, and Louis is thankful as he was very much not ready to go for another row. She apologizes purposefully multiple times before rising up and shaking Louis’ hand, bidding him goodbye. 

Once Louis is alone, he can finally exhale and let his guard down. He’s learned, through time, to not let some emotions come through, keeping them away to appear in control or unphased to some situations, especially some like these, but once he’s alone, everything resurfaces. It takes a toll on him most of the time, and today is not any different. He starts feeling the soreness in his back from frustration, then it’s the adrenaline rush all coming back down, leaving him bone-tired, with a headache growing bigger by the minute. 

He zones out for a while, calming himself down, before deciding to store all of the papers he accumulated, putting them back in the right folders, packing his stuff up, and closing his office. He leaves, ready to get back home and fall face-first on his bed, planning to do absolutely nothing all weekend.

As he goes down the corridor, on his way to the door, he stumbles into his dear friend and colleague Angela, closing her door, ready to leave as well. 

Angela is a well-known and highly respected lawyer, specialised in family matters. They first got into contact when Louis joined the private practice, full of different lawyers, notaries, and counsellors. They instantly hit it off and started working together closely, recommending each other to their clients, creating for both of them a very decent common network. The prick that threw a tantrum in Louis’ office is actually one of her clients. She was the one advising the couple to try counselling before filing papers for divorce. 

“Hey, Lou, you alright?” She asks but doesn’t let Louis answer. “Did you hear that guy screaming and leaving like a madman earlier?” 

“I was the reason that guy was screaming and leaving like a madman,” Louis snorts.

Her eyes instantly widen, a gasp escapes her mouth. “Shit, what happened?”

“Remember that couple you advised to try counselling instead of divorcing right away?” He waits for her to nod to continue. “Well, today was their second session, the husband started getting angry when his wife began criticising him. The whole point of the exercise was to communicate around things they didn’t like about one another to make it better,“he explains, eyes rolling in annoyance. “Anyway, he started getting angry at her, using his alpha voice, spitting insults left and right. I tried to calm him down. It did little to help the situation because instead, all the screaming and insults were suddenly directed at me. He went on about how this therapy was stupid, how I was useless and stealing his money. He made a mess of my desk, throwing fists and all, papers were flying around everywhere. I threatened to call security and then he left promptly, made a show for the whole building.”

“Oh my God,” she gapes at him. “Babe, are you okay? Did he touch you?”

“No, he didn’t, don’t worry, I would have called someone if he’d dared touch me,” Louis reassured her. “I just told his wife I wouldn't be working for them any longer, so either they’ll find someone else or they’ll get back to you. You be careful with them, yeah. Especially him. Don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Don’t worry about me. If he dares use his alpha voice on me, I’ll show him mine, and I won’t be gentle,” she said confidently. Louis knows this isn’t her trying to show off. He’s seen her get angry. He’s seen her put racist pricks right back in their place after they tried to shame or belittle her for the colour of her skin. She gets angry, she defends herself, and no one dares to get back at her.

“Anyway,” Louis says, wanting to change the subject and forget all of this happened for his own sake. “How was your day? Better than mine, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” she says with a small smile, but her eyes still look worried when she looks back at Louis. “Only had a few meetings. It was a slow day. I’m excited for tonight, though!” 

Louis nods, also excited, but for his early night in, comfort meal, and warm shower. “Hope you have fun, love. I’ll have myself a quiet one and do nothing for the rest of the weekend.”

“Oh no, Lou, we said we’d go out together and see everyone. It’s been a while,” she interjects, lips turning into a small pout.

Fuck. Angela is right. They had planned this a while ago, he completely forgot. The whole group hasn’t gone out together in so long, Louis was excited at the idea of seeing everyone again and have a fun night out. But right now, after this day and long week, there’s very little he wants other than sleep for twelve hours. Being in a club full of sweaty and drunk people really wasn’t in his plans for tonight.

“I completely forgot, Angie, I’m sorry,” he admits sadly. “I’ll rest at home for a bit and hope for this fucking headache to go away and I’ll join you guys later if I’m doing better. Can’t promise you anything, but I’ll keep you updated.”

“Okay. Don’t beat yourself up, Lou. Everyone will understand if you don’t want to go,” she reassures him. “Yeah, we'll all miss you, but if you don’t feel like it, everyone will understand.”

“I know,” he says with a gentle smile. Before parting ways, Angela pulls him into a hug, makes Louis promise to not come if he really doesn’t want to, and rest for as long as he wishes, night out or not.

He promises right back and assures her he’ll let everyone know what he plans on doing, but not to worry if he doesn’t text them, warning her that he can probably pass out from exhaustion as soon as he steps inside his flat.

***

On his tube ride back home, Louis starts weighing the pros and cons of going out. On one hand, he’s dead tired, his headache still hasn’t gone away, he’s had a long week and a horrible day, so treating himself to do nothing for the next few days sounds very appealing right now. 

But on the other hand, he hasn’t seen his friends in a while, and he’d feel bad cancelling on them last minute, even if he knows they’d understand why. And maybe getting drunk and having fun can help him loosen up a bit and forget the exhausting past few days. Perhaps, getting laid too, now that he thinks of it. It’s been a while, and his latest heat was spent alone a few days ago, he could use some release. 

Maybe that would solve all his problems.

Well, that sounds like a plan. 

He has the rest of the weekend to rest and his summer holidays are in just a few days after all. Ibuprofen with a little rest, a good meal, and a warm shower will do him good too. A fun night out with a little alcohol and his friends sounds like a good time and stress relief. If he can pull tonight and fuck the frustrations and problems out of his system, well, he’s not going to say no.

Once he gets home, the first thing he does is swallow that much-needed painkiller, and then hops under the hot spray of the shower. He takes his time, it’s more letting the hot water run down his back than showering, but ten minutes later he already feels better. 

It’s now 7 PM, he’s just ordered takeout, too lazy to cook anything, and in much need of the fabulous lasagne from his favourite Italian restaurant. He’s lounging on the couch, dressed in a simple tee and his comfiest sweatpants, hair still a bit damp from his shower, and while he waits for his food to arrive, he opens WhatsApp to check if he’s got any message from his friends or news for their night out. 

There are only two texts from Liam reminding everyone of their plan and prompting everyone to bring drinks and snacks for the pre-drink Liam is hosting at his and Niall’s flat. Louis takes the opportunity to inform everyone of his own plan. “Had a bad day at work, not feeling so well. Will probs join you a bit later (if I don’t fall asleep before). I’ll send a text when I leave so you know,” he texts. 

In seconds he gets a thumbs up from Angela, a “Take care, Lou” from Perrie, which everyone likes one after the other and a “:(“ from Niall. He even gets a separate one from Zayn saying “call me if you need x”. Everyone acknowledges him in a way, except one, but Louis isn’t surprised. 

He does give Zayn a ring to explain everything to him, from the altercation earlier, to his most-likely plan for the night. He hangs up when his buzzer rings, signalling that his food is here. He finishes his meal and then dozes off for a while in front of Friends episodes he’s already seen before.

When he comes back to consciousness again, it’s 10:45.

Decent, Louis thinks. His headache looks to be gone, he’s still a bit drowsy from sleep, but he seems to be alright. It’s nothing a cup of tea can’t fix. 

While the kettle boils, he runs to the bathroom and starts working on his hair, requiring a much-needed styling due to the odd position it was in when he napped on the couch. He doesn’t do much, deciding to keep it in an artsy fringe. 

After his tea and a quick snack, it’s close to 11:30 pm, a good time to join his friends at Liam and Niall’s flat, so he’s able to catch up with everyone before going out to the club. He gets ready quickly, washes his face and teeth, fixes his fringe one last time, puts some deodorant and his favourite cologne on. He gets dressed in his tightest and best black jeans, also known as his ‘fuck me’ jeans according to Zayn and a casual black tee. Except, nothing is casual about this shirt. From the soft and slightly see-through material, to the way it gently hugs every curve of Louis’ body and shows off his collarbones, letting his tattoos peek through. 

Louis arrives at the shared flat close to midnight, after his fifteen minutes' walk to get here. He texted the group chat to let them know he was indeed coming, so they knew to expect him. What Louis didn’t expect, though, was the group cuddle he’d get as soon as he’d announced himself when knocking on the door. Surprised, he asks what was that for, only for Liam to say Angela had told them everything. All were worried and sad he wouldn’t come, so when they received Louis’ text announcing he was, after all, coming, they had been ecstatic and ready to make it the best night for all of them, but especially for Louis.

They truly are Louis’ best friends; he is so lucky to have them. 

The group had formed little by little, through the years, and have been inseparable ever since.

Zayn is Louis’ best friend, has been since sixth form. They both lived in South Yorkshire. Zayn had moved close to Doncaster for his last school year and joined Louis’ school. Both omegas became attached at the hip immediately. Then they became roommates when they moved to London, where Louis started his psychology course and Zayn went to Art School. 

At the time, Zayn had started dating Perrie. They met at a party and got close really fast, dated for two years, but then broke up and thankfully remained friends, quite close even, with absolutely no animosity between them. Louis had been thankful, as he developed a great friendship with the beta, and wasn’t ready to lose a friendship over a bad breakup that wasn’t his. 

Liam and Niall have a similar story. They became roommates when they moved to the city as well, while Niall was studying to become an estate agent, Liam followed his training to become a chef. The four of them met at a party. 

Originally Louis had come with Zayn and Liam with Niall, but as the night went, Zayn and Liam (literally) came together in a bedroom upstairs, and Louis and Niall directly hit it off, pairing up to play drinking games, ending cuddled up and sprawled out on a couch the morning after. A few night outs and weekends spent hanging out after, the four obviously became inseparable, and Zayn and Liam started dating. Perrie had been so supportive and found a liking in both Niall and Liam, to both Louis' and Zayn's immense pleasure.

Angela was the latest to join the group. Louis had invited her for a pint after developing a good friendship at work. The alpha and omega had worked jointly multiple times and found themselves with more common interests than not, creating both a safe and secure work relationship and a valued friendship. Introducing her to his mates was a no brainer. 

While doing so, Louis found himself to be playing Cupid, as both Angela and Olivia, a beta sports trainer and yoga instructor Liam had met and introduced to the group a few months prior, started acting all coy and properly smitten around each other. The two have been dating for eight months and are already in talks of moving in together. 

All are close and incredibly supportive of one another, always here to cheer one up, in case they need it, like today for Louis. Even with adult life and priorities that didn’t exist in their early twenties, they still manage to see each other, all together or in little groups, as regularly as they can. Louis really couldn't ask for a better group of friends.

Well, except for one. The only one who didn’t engage in any way on the groupchat, who didn’t join the group cuddle either, who didn't talk to Louis at all. The only one Louis doesn’t consider a friend. 

Harry.

Louis doesn’t mind, though, because he simply can’t stand Harry.

He despises him really, has from the beginning. Harry joined the group when he and Liam became gym buddies. They both got a new gym subscription and joined group sessions every Monday and Thursday. Since they were the newest members of the class, they decided to pair up for exercises. As time went on, they started getting closer, and one time Liam invited Harry to have a beer with Niall, they all hit it off. A few days later, Harry was introduced to Louis and Zayn. 

And it’s not like Louis hadn’t tried. He did, but when Louis’ kindness and efforts were only met by a wall, he let it go. Only with time, he despised the alpha even more. 

From their first meeting, all Louis got was cold stares and half-arsed replies. It never usually happened to him! Everyone else was just as shocked when Louis told them how he felt. Especially because Harry was friendly to everyone. Everyone in the group and everyone else, really, even annoyingly drunk off their faces people who tried to hit on him at parties. He knows, he’s seen that. But he’s always cold with Louis, repeatedly ignoring him, not even doing the bare minimum of trying, or at least pretending, to be friendly enough. 

Everyone in the group loves him. Olivia joining the group is even thanks to him, as they only met because Harry persuaded Liam to join a yoga class, and both boys became friendly with their instructor, who a few weeks later joined the group officially. 

Niall obviously adores him, Perrie as well, and Zayn actually works with him sometimes. They met before the alpha joined the group at Zayn’s art gallery, while a flower exhibition was held there, Harry being one of the best and biggest florists in London. Zayn likes the guy, but it would be lying to say he was as close to him as the others. Louis is his best friend, after all, so Zayn will always be on Louis’ side.

It’s only Louis he has a problem with, it seems. 

And well, after weeks of trying, Louis came to the conclusion that it was pointless, that Harry hated him for a reason still unknown to him. And as childish as it was, he started to bitterly hate Harry too.

Their first meeting was almost three years ago, and nothing ever changed. And it’s a shame really, because despite hating on him, Louis still notices. He knows Harry and him have a lot of common interests, and he knows they’d get on really well if he’d tried. Not to mention that Harry is hot as hell, totally Louis’ type. He can’t help but still find him attractive despite this whole situation. 

Anyway, enough about him, Louis doesn’t care. What he cares about though, is to spend a good night with his friends, get drunk and, maybe laid, to forget about his horrible week. 

Just like a fallen angel, Niall comes to Louis with his first remedy.

“Have a beer, Lou,” Niall says, handing Louis a bottle. “Get a little booze in ya before we go.”

“Thanks, mate. I’m in well need of that.” After gulping down a few and moving from the main entrance to the living room, Louis exclaims loudly, “So what’s the plan for tonight, lads?” 

“Getting drunk, baby,” Niall answers just as loud, clicking his beer against Louis’. That’s most probably not his first one of the night. 

A loud cheer erupts in confirmation, just what Louis needed. 

Catching up with Liam and Olivia is what gives Louis more information on the rest of their evening. It was planned that they were indeed going to Louis’ favourite club around one thirty, to be here close to 2 AM. The best time to get in without much problem and have fun in an almost packed club. Not too late to have to endure the chaos of the waiting line that is usually there by three. Sounds good to him. 

To pass the time, and get drunk in the same go, Perrie suggests a drinking game. They start off with a truth or dare, which ends relatively quickly, as Niall insists that they play that way too often, that their group needs a little more spice in their pre-drinks games. 

That’s how they end up playing a game of Kings Cups, and Louis finishes his third beer of the night. Angela is the unlucky one who drew the fourth King card and had to drink the King’s cup, while Louis played a fair game and only had to finish half of his second bottle in one go. He’s done worse. 

Now that everyone’s boozed enough, they make a quick deal of cleaning up the flat, a well-learnt lesson from past drunk mistakes. Once everything is ready, they make their way to the club, and as expected, it seems to be nicely crammed, but the waiting line isn’t much. Ideal. 

They get in easily, quite familiar with the bouncers by now. They always love a mixed group, anyway. 

As soon as he gets inside, he’s attacked by a mix of pheromones and alcohol. The floor of the club is packed, sweaty bodies dancing to the beat of some pop song he doesn’t recognise. The corners, where the bar and different booths are, don’t seem full just yet, so Louis follows the lead, and, in no time, finds himself squeezed in between Perrie and Liam, drinking his first shot of the night. 

Louis doesn’t stay sitting long. It’s the heavy atmosphere, the loud beat ringing in his ears, the smell of a crowded room, and the bitter taste of the vodka and cranberry juice at the back of his throat that makes him forget about it all. It's what lulls him to this oh-so-wanted feeling of contentment and leads him to the dancefloor. 

He stays with his friends at the beginning. All of them, save for Zayn, Angela, and, well, Harry who stayed behind at the booth, start loosening up, getting used to the noise and crowd. As if on instinct, something unlocks inside of him as he starts feeling the music, a tune he’s more familiar with this time. Warmth takes place inside his body, the good kind. He becomes giddy, his body seems to be moving on his own, and a genuine smile appears on his face, full of happiness. 

He sings along to the music, alternating jumping up and down, throwing his hands up, to more sensual hips moving along. His gaze is unfixed in the moving crowd, not preying on anyone, not even looking for anything just yet, just taking it all in. It’d been a while since he’d properly gone out, more used to pub nights or quiet nights in, he’s missed it all. 

Thirty minutes or so after, Louis is exhausted, and he doesn’t really know the music they are playing, so he decides to head back to the booth, joining the others who don’t seem to have moved an inch, only to get more drinks, seeing the new additions to the table.

Zayn moves next to him as soon as Louis sits down. “Having fun?” he asks in his ear. 

“Lots,” he answers grinning. Eyeing everything on the table to decide what to get next, he spots a clear liquid in a plastic bottle. Smelling it and tentatively tasting it, he finds out it’s water and gladly pours himself a glass, a welcome cold relief after dancing in the heat and sweat of the floor. 

“Seen anyone you like?” Zayn continues. 

Louis shakes his head. “Not really. Wasn’t looking much, yet,” he adds. 

The others join them quickly after, and soon enough he’s dunking another shot. Tequila this time, savouring the bitter taste of the lemon away, liquor nicely burning down his throat. Looking back at the floor, it seems more packed than earlier, and seeing the time on his phone, this makes sense, prime time of the night and all. Perfect to maybe find someone to get laid and come back home with.

Chatting around, it’s only around 3 AM that Louis makes his way back to the dance floor. He didn’t want to come across as the annoying, horny guy only here to find someone to spend the night with, he did want to have a fun time with his mates first, catching up, partying and everything, but now it’s well in the middle of the night, he can have a look. Only a little look. If nothing happens, fine, he’s had a good time still. If something happens, well, great, nice even.

He decides to go for it gradually.

First, he stays with the group, feels the music again, lets his body loose. But as the minutes go by, he starts looking around, moving a little away from his friends, but quite naturally, only going with the flow. He’s not the only one doing that even. Perrie looks well on her way to find someone too, and Angela and Olivia did move slightly aside to have time for themselves.

Pushing his hesitance and worries away, Louis lets himself scan the room in hopes of finding someone of his liking. A few alphas catch his eye, and soon enough he’s moving away from his friends in hopes of being the one that others catch an eye for. Much to Louis’ pleasure, the music has changed to a better variety, alternating with songs from past decades to some from his university days, so he’s totally in his element, one more prone to letting himself move like he knows best, sway of hips and all.

He hasn’t moved five meters away when hands are already moving to grip around his waist. Red flag. Louis hates it when alphas do that. With a sweet move of his shoulder around, he spots the face and body these hands belong to. Not in the mood to piss an alpha off or start a fight, Louis smiles sweetly and grabs his paws, moving them off him, nodding his head when confusion shows on this alpha’s face, hoping that pushing his grip off and leaving will get his point across. He tries to ignore the stares behind his back as he continues farther into the crowd.

He sees an empty seat just in front of the bar. Next to it are a few alphas, including one Louis finds attractive, so he innocently takes a seat. He’s facing the dancefloor, leaving him the chance to scan the room, but be seen by others as well. Soon enough, the alpha sitting beside him gets closer and whispers something in Louis’ ear.

“Hi,” he says. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Very much so,” Louis answers, turning around to get a better look. As good-looking up close as from afar, Louis waits for him to make it clear he’s as interested. 

“You here by yourself?” He asks.

“Nah, my friends are over there,” Louis loosely motions to their table. “Just felt like moving a bit, seeing people and all that.”

As if he finally caught on to what Louis was after, the alpha goes back to whisper to Louis’ ear. “Wanna dance a bit then?” 

When Louis nods his agreement, he sees the smirk in the other man’s face, clearly indicating they both are on the same wavelength, and that finding someone to go home with for the night wasn’t that hard, it seems.

It begins with innocent and casual dancing, testing the waters, but it evolves quickly in a more sensual one. Louis moves around so that the alpha, who he still doesn’t know the name of, can press his front to Louis’ back. He gradually starts to grind back down against him, letting the stranger hold onto his waist and feel his clothed arsed, obviously sharing his intentions, and hopefully the idea of his ideal rest of the night. 

Louis is about to make it even more clear, as he feels the urge to kiss the alpha and tell him to bring him home, when he’s interrupted by said alpha, who’s leaning down to whisper something in his ear.

Maybe they both desire to move to the next step. Louis smiles at the thought.

Or not.

“I think someone’s looking for you, love,” he whispers, pointing to his left. Louis is confused. First, because he wasn’t expecting that to come out of his mouth at all. Second, because as he follows the alpha’s direction, he stops at the table he and his friends were at, and only sees Liam and Zayn there, but not looking at him at all. As Louis scans the area, he finally spots who’s looking at him. He sees red in an instant. “He doesn’t seem too happy to see you there," the alpha adds. The “with me” is strongly implied.

Over there is Harry, who apparently has moved from the table they first were at to the floor. He’s not even dancing with the others, too busy staring at Louis and throwing daggers at the alpha he’s with. Jealous motherfucker. He should get laid too, maybe he’ll be less of a judgmental pain in the arse.

“Ignore him,” Louis says, focusing back on the alpha who’s now in front of him, the one who matters right now. “He’s a dick, always has been. Just a jealous prick,” he adds through gritted teeth. 

He seems convincing enough as the alpha ignores the stares in favour of placing his hands back on Louis’ waist, pressing Louis close and dancing again. Louis takes the opportunity, now that they’re front to front, to link his arms around the alpha’s neck.

He catches Harry’s eye again, a few times even. He hasn’t moved much, maybe not at all. It’s the same look, the same furrowed brows, the same hard lines on his forehead. Louis bets he could see his nostrils flaring and smoke coming out of his ears if he’d been closer.

He’s properly ridiculous, being jealous or judgmental about something that absolutely does not concern him in any way. Louis simply doesn’t understand. What is he fucking doing, looking at Louis like that? He tries his best to ignore him, pushing the urge he has to punch him in the face and giving him a piece of his mind. 

Anyway, back to the hot stranger and his hands still around Louis’ waist, that’s what’s important. 

A few songs have passed, and nothing more happens, and while it’s convenient nothing annoying occurs again, Louis would very much like for things to evolve. He’s about to bring it up, after thinking about it and planning his approach for the last two songs, but the alpha beats him to it. Hands leave his side once more and instead go around Louis’ own, delicately moving them away back in their own space. Louis is confused, to say the least. 

“Listen, man, I think you’re very pretty, and you look like a decent fuck, but I really don’t want any problems. I’m only here to have fun, not to get whacked as soon as I leave with you by some other alpha,” he says. “I’ll let you fix your problems with him, okay. You have a good night, yeah?” He adds and goes in the next breath, leaving Louis like an idiot in the middle of the dancefloor. 

Did that really happen? Did Harry fucking Styles just cockblock him? Louis can’t believe it. 

Watching the alpha go back in the direction of the bar they first met at, Louis finds himself frozen in place, in the middle of dancing bodies, still trying to process what happened. When he turns around, Harry’s smile is the first thing he sees. And the worst thing is that Harry is not even looking at Louis, no, he’s finally turning away from the dancefloor, sipping his drink, but slightly smiling to himself into the glass. Louis only sees this grin and loses it completely. 

“What the fuck is your problem?” is all he yells once he reaches Harry’s space, not even caring about the packed club and people most probably noticing and listening.

Harry turns around, previous grin nowhere in sight, confusion replacing it. “What are you—”

“Shut up! You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Louis cuts him off. “Mind your own fucking business and stop prying in mine,” he accuses, throwing a warning finger at him. “I don’t know what your deal is, whether it’s jealousy or judgement or whatever, I don’t care, but stop your staring and leave me the fuck alone.”

“What are you even talking about?” Harry retorts back. “I’m far from jealous or judgemental, I don’t care about what you do.”

“Then why the hell were you staring at me this entire time?” Louis says, not as loud as earlier, conscious he’d be causing a scene and attracting more attention and even more embarrassment his way. Because obviously he’d be considered the immature and hysteric one. “You literally scared away the guy I was with and then you had the nerve to smile when you saw him leave me,” he continues. “I repeat: what the fuck is your problem?”

“I was only looking out for you,” Harry answers. 

“Bullshit,” Louis says immediately. The nerve, the fucking nerve he has to say that. As if he’d ever cared about Louis once in his life.

“If you’d only let me finish,” Harry exclaims, the first time he raises his voice of the whole encounter, promptly shutting Louis up. “That guy you were with reeked at least four different scents, including one where I felt distress. I was only looking out for you in case anything happened.”

“That’s not even possible for alphas to smell that,” Louis huffs. He’s not daft, he knows basic alpha anatomy. 

“It is when an alpha is close to their rut,” Harry clears up. “Mine was just a week ago,” he smartly answers. “You’re right, though, it’s very rare for alphas to smell that many scents and decipher emotions, such as distress, behind them that well. That’s why I was staring and looking out for you. The smells were so strong, only indicating something fishy. And I was the only one smelling it,” he adds. “I asked Liam and Angela to be sure, but they didn’t smell anything while it was only becoming stronger for me. I’m not that much of a dickhead to ignore things like that, especially if one’s safety may be at risk.” 

That shuts Louis up. 

“I’m sorry I stopped you from doing whatever you were planning on doing. There was absolutely no ill intent, I was only looking out for you, like any decent bloke who noticed that would,” the alpha says. “But it’s not like you can’t easily find somebody else,” he mumbles like he couldn’t help but still be a prick. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Louis answers without missing a beat, eyes narrowing at the man before him.

“Nothing. Just that about a dozen of alphas have been checking you out since we got here, even more when you went out there and were dancing with that other guy, and I’m pretty sure a few are doing the same right now,” he shrugs. “I’m not judging, I’m just telling you there are more options for you to have fun without putting yourself at risk.”

And once more, Louis is left speechless.

Turning on his heels, he leaves to go back to the dancefloor, as childish as it looks. He doesn’t look at Harry again, doesn’t even thank him for looking out for him and caring about his safety. No, none of that, simply because he doesn’t know what to think about what that means. Why would Harry, out of everyone else, care about him? He’s too confused and doesn’t want to deal with it now. So he goes back to where he came from and starts looking for those options, which Harry so nicely mentioned.

Like predicted, only a few minutes pass before another alpha approaches him, nicely this time, and invites him to dance together. It’s not that his previous interaction totally killed the mood, but Louis is much warier this time, not exactly as carefree and eager to go home with a stranger. And unfortunately, he isn’t really feeling this guy, not that he seems dangerous or anything, but the spark isn’t there, nothing is really. Stranger seems to get it, or maybe it’s a mutual feeling, but only two other songs pass before some of his mates call him back, and he makes no fight to stay.

The third one to approach him, though, is a hit. Very good looking, with manners, and good talk, Louis gets a much better vibe from him. Leo, he introduces himself as, is an alpha with olive skin and dark brown eyes, dressed smartly but casually in a green shirt and dark jeans rolled up at the ankles. He’s a good dancer, quite the charmer, and pretty big on PDA since as soon as he got to know Louis’ name, he didn’t hesitate to pull him closer and anchor his hands around Louis’ waist, not that Louis minded this time. 

It seems like he’s rather fond of kissing too and doesn’t mind others around, as he doesn’t waste time and pulls Louis in a heated one as they dance in the middle of sweaty people. Louis is a bit surprised, clearly not expecting it so soon and in front of a packed club, not that it’s indecent per see, but it’s definitely not in Louis’ fashion, even wasn’t with his ex-boyfriends.

Still, even if everything looks perfect and well on his way to getting what he wants, something inside Louis pushes him to break apart.

Maybe it’s uneasiness in being so demonstrative in front of so many people, or perhaps hesitation to let himself be vulnerable with a stranger after the incident from earlier, or none of that, only that he wants to. He doesn’t know really, but he does detach his lips from his. Playing it smoothly, trying not to show the guy whatever he’s feeling, he brings his hands up around his neck and focuses back on dancing to the music. The alpha doesn’t react, content to bring his hands back on Louis’ waist, close to the swell of his arse. 

It’s Louis who does tense, though, as soon as he makes the mistake of looking over the alpha’s shoulders as they dance. There, looking right back at him, is Harry. Again. The furrowed brows are gone, but the intensity is still very much there. 

Why?

Louis’ eyebrows are the ones growing closer into a frown this time. What’s his deal? 

The worst thing is that when Louis meets his eyes, he doesn’t look away. Any person caught staring would advert their look and pretend they weren’t so obviously looking, but no, Harry doesn’t, he keeps holding his gaze, barely blinking.

With a huff, it’s Louis who breaks his stare and focuses back on Leo, totally oblivious to anything happening, still content holding Louis’ waist. When their eyes meet, Louis surges on his tiptoes to kiss him. Half because he wants to, half because he wants to prove something to a certain someone. 

Hoping the message is clear enough, Louis spends the next minutes still in the alpha’s arms, not sparing a single thought to what happened just before. He even decides to switch positions and ends up with his back against Leo’s chest, arms quickly finding his middle again, arse now grinding against his crotch.

Unfortunately for Louis, the message did very little, and switching positions made it actually worse because as Leo dances to the music, Louis finds himself directly in front of a staring Harry Styles, and this time Louis can’t escape from his gaze without being suspicious.

So he closes his eyes and lets himself enjoy the moment away from this despicable gaze. But some way he can still feel it, even through closed lids, the intensity and non-stop glaring from the person Louis despises the most. 

Does Harry really wish to rile Louis up even more and ruin his night that badly? He must know Louis has had a bad day and long week and was only coming here to have fun and release the accumulated tension. Louis knows he listens and must have seen his texts in the group chat, so he definitely knows all that.

Was this his plan all along? 

Louis’ eyes shot open in a glare at the realisation, only to immediately find Harry’s looking back, slight smirk playing on his lips, not once breaking the stare.

Bastard.

Louis has had enough. He can’t believe he fell for it and thought Harry would care about him, that whole plan was only to roil Louis up and cockblock him, just like he first thought. And it’s working again, as despite a hardening cock pressing to his behind repeatedly to the rhythm of music, Louis can only focus on Harry’s obnoxious staring. 

Taking matters in his own hands, Louis takes Leo’s hands off his waist and laces one in his to lead the alpha away, a little deeper into the crowd as to make it harder for Harry to see him and finally stop his staring.

Both resume their dancing, but despite Louis’ best effort to stay away from Harry’s ogling and focus on the hot man dancing behind him, nothing seems to work in his favour as the annoying staring doesn’t stop, even from afar, and that only riles Louis up.

Right on cue, as if things weren’t already the worst, he felt the alpha behind him moving down, his breath tickling Louis’ ear, a strong feeling of déjà vu sweeping through him.

“You alright, babe?” Louis hears faintly. Zoning back in and focusing on the man behind him again, Louis nods, but it doesn’t seem convincing enough. “Hey,” the alpha starts again, grabbing Louis’ middle and turning him gently around to properly look into his eyes. “I think you should rest a bit and grab a water. You don’t look so good.”

What? 

“What?” Louis says once he finds his voice. 

“As much as I want you, I’m not an abusing asshole. I can see you’re not totally with me right now. I don’t know how much you drank or if you’re high or something,” the alpha trails off, suddenly sounding worried. “I won’t take advantage of you, don’t worry,” he says, stepping away from Louis’ space as if to prove his point. “Try to find your friends and stay with them. Stay safe out there, Louis.”

Louis’ eyes bulge out in confusion. “What?” he repeats. “No, no, I’m fine! It’s just this guy that keeps staring at me. He’s been doing that all night. I can’t stand him!!”

He’s rambling right now, and his voice keeps rising into a high pitched, squeaky sound. Nothing at all helps him get out of this situation, it’s doing anything but that. 

Louis sees Leo’s eyes soften, and pity draws across his face. He brings a hand up Louis’ face, softly brushes his thumb on Louis’ cheekbone. “Where are your friends, darling? Let me bring you back to them.”

Knowing Leo won’t hear any of Louis’ pleas and that his night is ruined once and for all, Louis gives up and points to the tables he can see his friends at and lets himself guided over there by the gentle and caring Greek God he could’ve spent the night with.

With a kiss on the forehead and a “Take care” whispered to his ear, Louis finds himself frozen in place, mouth slightly open in shock, as Leo goes back into the crowd, probably to find another bloke, and enjoy his rest of the night. 

Louis is fuming. 

When thoughts get back to him, all he sees is red. Weird looks of confusion from Liam and Zayn too, but right now, he doesn’t care. All he wants is to find Harry, who so conveniently disappeared, to finally give him a piece of his mind.

His relationship with Harry has never been a good one, Louis really despises the guy. The sentiment is obviously mutual, but they tolerate each other. They simply ignore each other's existence, save for a few digs here and there, but nothing rude, ever. They never got into a fight, physical or verbal. 

It might change soon, though.

Only a few moments are needed for Louis to scan the room and finally spot Harry, a little away, but still in the same area, whispering into someone’s ear. 

Well, Louis thinks, two can play this game.

Determined, Louis makes his way over, closed fists, knitted brows, and all. “Hey, arsehole,” he calls out. Harry instinctively turns like Louis called his own name. At this point, it as well might be. “Mind explaining why you ruined my night? Once again.” 

“Mind explaining what I did? Once again,” Harry echoes. 

God, Louis wants to punch him. 

“Do I need to spell it out for you, Styles?” 

“Feel free to,” he taunts, still acting innocent.

Oh, the nerve. “Staring like a fucking creep is what you did. All night,” he accuses. 

“No, Louis, you were.”

“What? I wasn’t!!  _ You _ were!” he argues. What the hell?

“I only was because you were, Louis,” he says with an exaggerated sigh. “I was staring the first time, that is true, but you already know why. I wasn’t lying. All these other times, I was only looking back at you,” he claims. “You were the one staring even though you were with someone else. I was only holding your gaze,” he repeats. 

“You’re lying,” Louis accuses. “Why would I look at you when I had a gorgeous man dancing with me and about to bring me home?” he asks bluntly.

“I don’t know, Louis. You tell me,” Harry cuts him off with a raised eyebrow. 

“I wasn’t,” he glares. 

All Harry does is roll his eyes in answer, and with a shake of his head, he starts moving out of Louis’ reach, like he always does when Louis tries to confront and talk to him. Louis has had enough, but he wants a real answer this time, he won’t let him go that easily. 

Swiftly, Louis moves back into the alpha’s space, stopping him by grabbing his hand but letting it go as soon as he stops his track. “Oh, no, no, no. I wasn’t done,” he snaps once he reaches him. “You can’t just—” 

Is that?

No, it can’t be. 

“A-are you hard?” Louis blurts out, not even believing his own voice.

Right there, brushing against Louis’ upper hip, is a thick length, one Louis wouldn’t have noticed if only he wasn’t so furious and had realised how close he had gotten, trying to get a reaction out of the alpha he despises the most. 

He can’t meet Harry's eyes, frozen in place, gaze downward, bluntly staring at the noticeable bulge poking him.

It’s gone in an instant, breaking Louis’ trance.

The next few moments feel unreal, out of time in sort. Neither of them dares to talk. Louis is the one to move first, looking back up, zoning back in, and trying to erase that sight from his memory, but obviously failing as really unwanted thoughts start to fill up his mind.

Despite the packed, loud club, he still hears Harry clearing up his throat. “Uhm. Sorry about that,” he croaks out. “I told you my rut was just last week and a few things led to, well,” he coughs once more. “That,” he motions lightly to his lower region, then brings his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He averts his look, Louis notices. “As for the staring, I swear to you I wasn’t doing it this time around. You were, and I was only wondering what I did for you to keep glancing at me and holding your gaze for so long.”

A few things led to that. What things? Did Louis’ staring lead to that? No, Louis wasn’t staring, Harry was and ruined his night. Louis wasn’t.

Thoughts are flooding Louis’ head, stuff he’d very much like to stop thinking about and not imagine at all. And yet, it’s one of the rare, if not the only, times Louis is rendered speechless around Harry.

The silence must surprise Harry too, since he hasn’t moved much, despite the embarrassment, or what Louis would think is an embarrassment. It must not be, since the alpha hasn’t shied away or shifted to get out of Louis’ space.

At the realisation, Louis feels himself reddening and getting hotter, despite the past dancing and warm atmosphere he was already in. It’s also the first time of the night he produces slick.

His eyes bulge out as soon as he feels himself leaking.

No. No, no, no, no, this can’t happen. It won’t. He needs to go.

“Louis? Are you okay?” 

“Yeah. Fine,” Louis answers a bit too quickly. “It’s fine. Forget it.” It’s not, nothing is, but he needs to go. 

And so he does, moving past multiple bodies, hoping no one notices the state he is in.

He finds an empty seat at the bar, near the table his friends are at, and asks for much-needed water, to cool off and come back to his senses.

What the heck just happened?

As he sips the cold liquid, he thinks back to what Harry said, of the slight but still-there pressure he felt of Harry’s cock. It’s natural, Louis reminds himself. An alpha getting hard is natural, an omega producing slick is natural, one thing leading to the other is too. It’s fine. All good.

Louis’ quarterly heat spent alone makes things worse, lots of built-up tension, frustration, and need can only lead to one thing. Harry’s rut being recent too, now that he thinks of it. Not that he knows how Harry spent it, but he figures it must work the same way.

It’s only natural, he comforts himself.

Looking for release is too, a part of his brain sympathies. Alphas and omegas helping each other out during these times is common. Usually, the no string attachment is a good thing to avoid uneasiness or even problems, it’s like a favour from alphas to omegas to help each other during those times. 

It shouldn’t be a big deal. It isn’t. 

Why is Louis freaking out? 

Why is an image of Louis coming apart on Harry’s knot imprinted in his mind?

Louis hates Harry, that much is clear. But it would be complete denial to pretend Louis is totally unfazed and not into the alpha at all. He won’t lie, he does find Harry attractive, has from the beginning, and more than once wished things would be different, that he could do something about his attraction, but alas here there are.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that a tiny part of Louis’ mind is ready to ask Harry for that favour, one that would satisfy them both if he’d agree.

It’s a ridiculous thought, he knows, but it hasn’t left his mind ever since he felt it. 

“You good, Lou?” an Irish accent breaks his reverie and internal conflict. 

“Yeah, mate. Just a bit peachy from dancing so much,” he lies. 

“Oh, yeah, drink up then. Can’t have you passing out,” he slurs. “You having fun tonight? Found someone to your liking yet?”

“Yeah, yeah. Working on it,” he half-heartedly answers. “What about you, Nialler?”

“Sure did, my man,” he grins. “Gonna spend the rest of the night with this lady right here,” he brings his pint of Guinness up to his cheek, kissing the glass. 

Louis snorts. Typical Niall. At least he doesn’t have to worry about who he’s going home with.

Niall doesn’t stay long, unfortunately, as he’s called by a group of people he just made friends with for shots.

And Louis’ unrest is back. It’s crazy how the idea hasn’t left Louis’ mind since it arrived in his head, nothing has been able to distract him from the thought, not a single thought spared to Leo or anyone in the club. 

Not anyone but the most despicable person Louis knows. 

It’s like he’s haunted by the thought, unable to focus on anything else, or rather forget everything altogether. 

It’s once he finishes his cold water that he gets an idea. It’s nothing genius, on the contrary, rather something drunk people would do. 

He’s going to text Harry. 

Yes, it’s a terrible idea, but at least he’ll be fixed. If he says no, his brain might get the memo and stop creating hundreds of scenarios. And, well, if he says yes, then he’ll be set and, quite literally, fuck it out of his mind. 

Fumbling in his back pockets to find his phone, he decides to fuck it all and go for it, he can still blame it on the drinks after all. 

“I have a proposition for you,” he texts. “If you wanna hear it, you swear not to tell anyone about this conversation or else I’ll make your life a living hell,” he threatens. He won’t, not by himself, anyway, but pretending will get you anywhere.

“Spill,” he receives a few seconds later. Louis is about to repeat his threat only to be sure it’s clear in Harry’s mind, that he absolutely can’t talk about this conversation, when another bubble pops up. “Won’t say anything, you have my word,” it says.

Deep breaths, Louis, deep breaths. It’s okay, you can still blame everything on the alcohol, he convinces himself again. He’s not even that drunk but, still, a totally sober and not horny Louis wouldn’t even think about what he’s going to send next.

“Your rut was last week, correct? My heat too.” Louis starts. “You’re hard in the middle of a packed club looking like a knothead who can’t control his sexual urges,” he doesn’t wait for Harry’s answer to add one more. “So here’s what I’m suggesting: you and I go back to mine, fuck our frustrations away, then go back to ignoring each other’s existence and never mention it again.” 

The read receipt shows up instantly. Louis is not sure he’s still breathing. He waits a few seconds, leaving Harry time to read over his messages, before he raises his head, only to find Harry directly making eye contact with him. A recurring matter this night, it seems.

He holds it for a few breaths, before plunging back into his phone. “You can of course say no. I’m only asking you to keep this conversation to yourself and not tell a soul,” he clears up.

“I’m in,” is all Louis receives. He blinks a few times, making sure he’s reading this right. 

“For real?” he asks, just to be a hundred percent sure.

“Yes,” pops up. “How do you wanna pursue?” The alpha adds, like he’s on a special mission or something. 

“I’m gonna call us a cab to go to mine. Once I know it’s here, I’ll leave and join you there,” Louis explains. “I’ll text you to go around five minutes before it arrives, so it doesn’t look suspicious, and our friends don’t notice us leaving together.”

“Noted.” 

So Louis does, and ten minutes later, he’s sat in the backseat of a cab, next to Harry Styles, the person he hates the most but unfortunately still finds attractive, they’re on their way to fuck in Louis’ flat. 

Splendid. 

From there, everything happens very fast. The drive is silent except for the cab radio quietly playing in the front seat. Louis and Harry don’t talk, they haven’t since that incident. Neither of them says anything, for a while none of them dares to move. Louis makes the first move by reaching for his phone in his back pocket. Harry doesn’t budge.

“Going home with some guy ;),” he texts the group chat, adding the emoji to seem less suspicious. “Have a fun night, babes.”

“Yes, Lou, get in!!!” He receives from Perrie. If they only knew that guy was Harry, he wouldn’t hear the end of it. That’s why he refuses to let anyone know. 

When he sees Harry typing out something on his phone, his eyes widen suddenly. “What are you doing?” He says, breaking the silence.

“Texting them that I’m leaving too?” The alpha answers, surprise clear in his tone. 

“Not now,” Louis scolds. “They’ll be suspicious. There’s no way anyone can know about this, okay? You’ll text them you went home or something when we’re at mine.” 

The next second, Harry raises his hands up, maybe his way of proving he meant no harm, and locks his phone down. “Okay, I’ll text them later. And no one will know about it, don’t worry.” 

“Good,” Louis nods, bringing his attention back on the road. A few moments later, he opens his phone again, this time to text Zayn, the only one who will know about it, just in case of emergency. “The guy I’m going home with is actually Harry. Don’t tell a soul, okay?" He texts him. 

“What?? What for?” He gets in return. 

Louis rolls his eyes. “To play scrabble…” he texts first. “What do you think, Zayn??” follows. 

He should’ve expected the surprised emoji he receives next. Still, Zayn is right. What is he even doing? He’s supposed to hate the guy… 

Another bubble pops up. “Stay safe and don’t do anything stupid, okay?” It says this time. “Call me anytime if you need,” he gets after, and “Call me when you wake up tomorrow. That’s an order!” Only for Zayn to finish with a “Have fun!!” To which Louis answers with a thumbs-up emoji. 

When they reach Louis’ flat, Harry offers to pay, which Louis doesn’t oppose, and then he leads him up inside. He forgets the lift, usually wary of them during the day, even if sometimes they’re found handy, he can’t and won’t take one in the middle of the night and risk being stuck in his worst nightmare, especially with his mortal enemy out of everyone.

So six flights of stairs later, he leads Harry inside. 

Louis immediately gets rid of his shoes, leaving them at the bottom of his closet by the door, and moves to the kitchen to fetch himself a cold drink. He doesn’t pay attention to the other man until he turns around and sees him awkwardly taking off his vans, while pensively looking around Louis’ flat. 

Oh. Harry’s never been here before, he’s just discovering Louis’ place. It’s not like Louis never invites anyone over, he does. Has done it plenty of times: for movie nights, sleepovers, or just for drinks at the end of the week— he just never invited Harry. 

“I’d give you a tour, but we both know you aren’t here for that,” Louis breaks the silence.

“Right,” Harry clears his throat. “It’s lovely, though.”

Louis snorts. “Thanks.”

And it’s silent again. The two of them stand awkwardly in Louis’ living room, and if it weren’t for Harry’s still visible bulge in his pants, Louis would think he made a huge mistake. 

Technically, it is, and he knows it, 

“Want a water?” Louis asks. 

“No, I’m alright. Thanks.”

Quiet again, the clock in the living room being the only sound in the flat.

It’s Harry who breaks the silence this time. “We should probably talk about it. Set boundaries and all that.” 

“Sure, let’s.” Louis gestures to his bedroom, thanking his past self for thinking of cleaning up and making his bed.

“How many did you drink?” Harry checks once he steps inside.

Louis rolls his eyes. “Three beers and two shots. I’m fine. How much did you even drink? You were there before me.”

“Four beers and two shots.”

“See!” Louis exclaims. “You’re drunker than I am.”

“But you said you were tired! And I’m an alpha, my alcohol tolerance is higher than yours,” Harry retorts.

“Oh, please, don’t start with that alpha shit, or you can go right now,” Louis scolds. “And, for all you care, I had a nap before coming, so I’m doing just fine, thank you very much. If you don’t wanna be here, no one is forcing you. So either you stop making excuses and start doing something,” Louis warns. “Or you can fuck off out of my flat and go back to ignoring my entire existence again.”

“I wasn’t making excuses. I was just trying to find out how drunk you were to see if you actually wanted this,” he explains. “I’m sorry for caring about your consent here.”

Wonderful. They can’t go five minutes without fighting or bickering. How is this gonna work? 

Except right now, Louis really wants this to work and get to the fucking part, so he’ll have to be diplomatic. “Harry, do you wanna be here?” Louis sighs. 

Harry nods, then verbally confirms.

“Great, so we are two consenting adults about to have sex. Do we really need to make a big deal out of it? I know it’s complicated between us but do we really need to make this harder and weirder than it needs to be?”

“I’m not trying to make things more complicated, Louis,” he groans, clearly annoyed but trying to talk things through. “I’m just trying to know what you like, what you don’t like, what you want and don’t want, for us to have a good night.”

“I want to get fucked,” he proclaims. “Preferably soon.”

“You will,” Harry vows. “Just set your boundaries, so I know not to cross them.”

Louis sighs but complies nevertheless. “I’m fine with all kinds of foreplay. I’m obviously okay with fucking and knotting, just no biting and please wear a condom.”

“Okay, I’m good with that too,” Harry nods. “What about kissing?” 

“No. No kissing,” Louis says determinedly. No way.

“No kissing on the mouth or no kissing at all?” Harry asks, not missing a beat. When he sees Louis not answering, he presses again. “I don’t know what kind of sex you have, Louis, but I don’t do no kissing at all. It’s literally part of the package deal. If you wanna have a good time, kissing will be involved,” the alpha states. “I’m not saying kissing on the mouth, I can do without that, but that’ll be very hard for me not to kiss you at all.”

The thing is, Harry has a point. 

As much as Louis would like to pretend, he is very fond of kissing too. He loves to kiss and being kissed, and Harry is right, it is part of the whole deal. Thinking about it a bit more, Louis realises no kissing means no neck kisses, no thigh kisses, and lots of foreplay opportunities missed since Louis loves having his nipples and arse played with, and all that somewhat involves kissing. 

So no, that just won’t do.

One thing he’s sure about, though, is that he absolutely won’t let Harry Styles kiss him on the mouth.

“Okay,” he recaps. “Foreplay is okay, fingering, rimming, handjobs, blowjobs, okay. Fucking is okay but wear a condom,” he says with a pointed look. “Knotting is okay but absolutely no biting,” he warns again. “Kisses are okay except on the mouth,” he finishes. “Clear?”

“Crystal.”

As soon as their agreement is made, Louis doesn’t waste any time and gets to work. He drops to his knees and quickly works to open Harry’s fly and gets his cock out, wrapping his lips around the tip.

“Someone’s eager,” Harry chuckles above him.

“Says the one who has had his cock hard the entire ride here and back at the club for ages,” Louis retorts once he pulls off. Then he brings his hand up around the shaft, lightly teases Harry’s head with his tongue, before resuming his sucking.

“As if you aren’t affected, yourself,” Harry argues. “You know I could smell you leaking on our way over here and I’m practically sure in the club too.”

Fuck. 

As soon as Harry says that, he feels another drop. At this point, he doesn’t care about what Harry thinks, he literally has his hard cock in his mouth, but he only hopes no else caught a sniff earlier. 

When he resumes his sucking, he takes Harry’s cock a little farther and uses his hand where he can’t reach. That instantly shut Harry up. 

Louis notices how much the alpha is affected, how much he tries to control himself and not thrust into Louis’ mouth. Louis is secretly thankful, not that he hates a bit of mouth fucking, he loves it actually, but he still needs a little training, and, well, Harry isn’t small, quite the opposite really. He’s glad Harry lets him do his thing and set the pace. 

Louis seems to be doing a good job anyway, if Harry’s grunts and groans are anything to go by. Harry’s hand moving to his hair, following Louis’ bops and lightly tugging every now and then, only encourages him to suck harder.

Once his throat starts tiring up, a few moments later, Louis pulls off to avoid any unsexy choking and focuses on the balls instead. Harry’s hand is now on the back of his head, near the nape of his neck, still guiding him. He mouths over and alternates between gently biting and sucking at Harry’s balls until he’s able to catch his breath properly again. He decides to go for another round of taking Harry’s cock, except Harry stops him when he straightens up.

“Come here,” he croaks out.

After wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Louis stands up, only for his shirt to be taken off him in the next breath. Everything is happening a bit too quickly for his foggy brain to catch up, so he lets Harry do the work and just watches it happen. 

After removing Louis’ shirt, Harry takes his blazer off. Yes, blazer, because Harry Styles goes out in a two-piece suit, despite clubs being known to be giant furnaces, especially in June. He looks good, though, like handsomely so.

He’s the one sweating off his arse, that’s his problem, Louis just enjoys the view. 

Next, he strips down his shirt, a funny one, bright yellow with the words ‘I’m gonna die lonely’ scattered around a panda. It shouldn’t look good, especially not with a navy striped suit and vans. This combo should be a disaster, it shouldn’t work that well. Except, of course it does on Harry.

No matter how hot Louis thinks Harry looks, he’s glad he’s getting rid of his clothes, because much to his pleasure, Harry is stupidly gorgeous naked too. 

Toned abs and pecs are facing him, dark ink everywhere, deeply contrasting with his sun-kissed skin and muscles. Sparse hair brushes his chest and down from his middle to his groin, framed by two tattooed laurel leaves. Sweat is already glistening on his skin, clear indication of how affected he is. 

Louis wouldn’t mind running his tongue and lips over it. 

“Liking what you see?” Harry interrupts Louis’ staring. 

“Only waiting for you to catch on and start doing something preferably soon,” he lies easily. 

Promptly, Harry shoves his trousers and boxers down in one go, revealing his full naked glory. Fresh smell of sea salt mixed with a clear hint of arousal fills up the room in an instant. 

Too caught up in Harry’s scent and body, Louis doesn’t notice Harry stepping closer and doesn’t expect the alpha to lead him down on the bed, while unfastening Louis’ belt and opening his fly to get him out of his jeans. He lands down with a huff but hasn’t time to react before Harry asks him to lift his legs up to get rid of his clothes.

Harry immediately falls on top of him and attacks Louis’ neck, both with kisses and bites. Through half-lidded eyes, Louis lets himself enjoy it, without any overthinking. 

“You smell good,” Harry declares, nosing at Louis’ scent gland, then placing kisses down the side of his throat. “Lavender,” he mouths on Louis’ skin. “Fresh but sweet.”

Little gasps and whines escape his mouth at Harry’s compliment, but especially when Harry works around the tender parts of his neck. He seems to have found somewhere he likes, one that also earns lots of reaction out of Louis, since the alpha doesn’t move much, only alternating between gently biting and soothing out the area with kisses. 

He only hopes it won’t leave any visible sign tomorrow.

“N-no mark,” he pants, eyes shutting in pleasure as Harry continues to suck at the tender skin.

“Oops,” Harry answers, suddenly leaving the side of Louis’ neck, sounding entirely too smug. 

Louis’ eyes shoot open, hand flying to the side of his neck, two fingers pressing into the area Harry was sucking on. A sting of pleasure goes through him, clear indication of a bruise forming there. “I fucking hate you,” Louis snaps. 

“Mmhm, I know,” Harry replies.

If Louis wasn’t so eager to get fucked, he’d totally knee Harry in the balls for that. 

Unfortunately, Louis doesn’t have time for retaliation of any kind. As much as he’d liked revenge for what Harry did, the fucker seems to find the perfect way to reduce Louis into a squirmy and whiny puddle when he decides to give attention to his nipples. One of Louis’ biggest weaknesses.

He goes for the right one first, sucking the nub into his mouth, then alternatively playing with his tongue around and blowing cold air on it. Only a little teasing drives Louis insane.

“So sensitive,” Harry remarks.

Too much is happening at once. From Harry’s weight caging him down on the bed, to his smart, teasing tongue, sharp bites, and gentle kisses. Harry’s necklaces too— yes, plural, because one isn’t enough, three are obviously necessary. The cold pearls and two cross necklaces stimulate Louis’ skin, sending shivers through his whole body. 

“You know,” Harry says, letting Louis’ nipple slip out of his mouth, blowing air around the nub. “With your no kissing rule, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.” He’s now toying with his left nipple, applying pressure, driving Louis wild. “That would have been a damn shame because you seem to really enjoy it,” he adds smugly.

Louis means to reply, shut him up and wipe that smirk off his face. But instead, it’s a long moan he lets out as Harry bites down on his right nipple again, still rolling the left one around his fingers, leaving Louis overwhelmed in the best way.

He gets a little rest once Harry decides to go down to his middle, a few moments later. He starts by leaving a trail of kisses from Louis’ chest to his navel, without forgetting his bellybutton, of course. It tickles but Louis enjoys the little bits of affection. 

He isn’t expecting it when Harry takes his hard cock into his mouth and sucks around the head. Earning a few more moans out of Louis, the omega falls backwards down the bed again, too overwhelmed by his arousal.

Harry pulls off to give attention to his balls, next he’s nosing down Louis’ taint, and finally, Harry’s tongue meets his hole. Louis lets out a sudden gasp in response. 

His legs spread open instinctively.

Now that he’s given more access, the alpha doesn’t hesitate to lick around the area and dive his tongue inside, leaving Louis gasping and moaning needily. 

“You taste sweet even down there,” Harry says as he catches his breath. “So wet and needy.”

“Shut up,” Louis responds once he masters it. He can’t say things like that.

Thankfully Harry does, he’s back lapping at Louis’ hole instead. Then palms find the meat of his arse, Harry’s holding his cheeks apart and dips his tongue back inside. By now, Louis’ legs are up in the air, his head is thrown back in pleasure, and loud moans are escaping his lips. 

He’s once again not expecting it when a single digit enters his hole. He’s wet and horny, so it doesn’t hurt. Harry starts to fuck his single finger in and out, just to let Louis adjust to something entering him, and once Harry notices Louis is comfortable enough, he presses a second one inside. He starts scissoring them lightly, creating a wider stretch. 

Louis is at the panting stage at this point, the one in between needily wanting more and seeking release. “More,” he moans. “Give me more.”

Harry seems to understand the urgency and decides to fuck his fingers in and out again, except something cold catches Louis’ rim.

A hiss escapes Louis’ mouth.

“Shit! Sorry,” Harry says. “Forgot to take my rings off.”

Suddenly, Louis feels empty and clenches around air. He whines, both at the loss and Harry’s doings. He silently curses him out for being so stupid and risking hurting him if he hadn’t been careful.

While Harry wipes his silk-covered fingers on the sheets, Louis relaxes down the bed, a good opportunity to get his breathing back to normal before going at it again. He expects Harry to be done quickly, in a few seconds at most, conscious of how difficult it must be to get a ring off when fingers are all sticky. 

He doesn’t expect it to take more than two minutes, though.

He decides to sit up to see what Harry is up to and what’s taking him so long. What he doesn’t expect, though, is to see two massive rings set down on the bed and four still on Harry’s fingers.

“You sure you’re a florist and not a walking advert for some jewellery store?” Louis asks, not quite believing someone needs that many rings.

A snort leaves Harry’s nose. He only shakes his head and still focuses on trying to get the rings off. 

“So, am I gonna get fucked anytime soon or is this one more attempt at cockblocking me?” Louis can’t help but ask, huffing. 

Though he’d never admit it, deep down, he finds Harry’s jewellery incredibly beautiful, especially the rings adorning his fingers. And seeing Harry take off each one of them only to be able to fuck him is incredibly alluring.

“Oh, baby, I know you like what you see. Stop pretending,” Harry chuckles.

“Don’t call me that,” Louis retorts immediately, not even paying attention to what Harry asserts. 

How dare he. 

‘Baby’ is Louis’ favourite pet name to be called, it makes him all warm inside whenever someone calls him that, whether affectionately or romantically.

Harry absolutely won’t call him that. 

Louis simply refuses to let someone he despises so much call him ‘baby’, even if he still feels red coming up tainting his cheeks. 

“You didn’t deny it,” Harry looks at him pensively, taking off another ring. 

“Deny what?

“That you like what you see” Harry looks smug. “Don’t worry. I don’t blame you.”

“You’re so full of shit.”

Louis is pretty confident Harry is just being a smug bastard and enjoys teasing and riling Louis up, because surprisingly, when Louis doesn’t meet his jibes, he’s taking off his rings much faster. 

Once ring free, Harry doesn’t waste time to meet Louis’ hole again. He starts his prepping and teasing again, from the beginning just in case, even if neither of them has gone soft in the short span. 

He starts with a single digit, then adds a second one, first scissoring them and then fucking them in and out. 

Sweet sounds and gasps are leaving Louis’ lips again. 

Before adding a third finger and then his cock, Harry, to both their pleasure, digs his tongue back inside, next to the already there fingers. The alpha looks like a starving man, eating Louis out with fervour and intent, reducing the omega to a whining mess. 

A third finger finds its way in a little after, adding more to the stretch and correctly hitting Louis’ sweet spot. 

“Feels good, baby?” Harry asks when he sees Louis’ face and body twisting in pleasure. 

“I told you not to call me that,” Louis scolds, face still reacting in pleasure. 

“Louis, it’s fine. I know you like it,” he rolls his eyes. “You’re bright red, and I’ve seen you turn that shade before when someone called you that. Don’t worry, I won’t call you baby outside of the bedroom,” he promises.

Louis hates that Harry notices so much. 

“There won’t be any other time,” Louis grumbles. 

“You only say that because you don’t know what you’re gonna get,” he receives in answer. Fingers are still fucking in and out. 

“I’m not getting anything right now, so how about you act instead of talking your good talk?” Louis challenges.

Finally, the alpha retracts his wet fingers from Louis’ entrance and wipes them roughly on the sheets. 

“Where’s your stuff?” He urges, cock standing hard and proud, curling on his hip, red and leaking at the tip. 

“Bedside table, third drawer.”

After a quick rummage through the drawer, Harry finds a condom. He then lies down on the bed by Louis’ side. 

“How about you put this on me, baby,” Harry suggests once he opens the condom package.

“Can’t you do it by yourself, big boy?” Louis asks, letting the pet name slip. 

“I can,” he says. “But I’d much rather see you put it on with your mouth. See if you gag on my cock,” he adds sultrily. 

Louis’ eyebrows raise in surprise. 

Never one to decline a challenge, he accepts and gets up, taking the condom from Harry’s awaiting hands. While the alpha gets comfortable in a half-sitting position, Louis strokes his hard cock a few times, a way of hiding his apprehension, and sucks in a couple of deep breaths before diving in.

He places the condom nicely on the crown of Harry’s cock, pinches the tip and starts rolling the latex a few centimetres down. He looks up to find Harry’s encouraging gaze looking back at him, a smirk playing on his lips. 

Wrapping his lips around the tip, Louis takes his time adjusting, then sucks, pushing the condom down. Soon, Harry’s cock hits the back of his throat, and Louis has to slow down and loosen up his throat to avoid any gagging. With a few breaths through his nose, he goes down Harry’s shaft, slowly but surely, until his nose brushes Harry’s pubic hair, and sets the condom in place. 

“Good boy,” Harry praises, bringing a hand at the back of Louis’ hair, only applying slight pressure in appreciation. Louis blushes at the praise. He teasingly swallows around Harry’s girth, earning a loud growl out of the alpha.

He takes this as his cue to pull off and come back up.

Harry’s hand is mid-air, close to Louis’ head, when he stands back up. For a short instance Louis thinks Harry is about to run his fingers through his hair and push it back from his forehead, but then Harry quickly hides it behind his back.

A cough breaks the moment. “How do you wanna go next?” Harry is asking.

“From behind,” Louis doesn’t miss a beat. That’ll be less personal, less intimate, it’ll do the job. 

“Be my guest,” Harry encourages. 

That’s how Louis ends up on his hands and knees, with the guy he can’t stand pushing his cock inside him. 

Harry, like everything he does, starts slow but with sure movements of hips, progressively meeting Louis’ skin. Louis is thankful, as he gets a few minutes to adjust himself to the stretch, which is much different from a couple of fingers.

“It’s okay,” Louis says, a little out of breath already. “I’m good, you can go on.”

Harry’s hands find his waist in an instant, and the pace becomes quicker, the thrusts deeper. 

It’s a little different than how Louis usually has sex, right now he’s missing a little dirty talk and affection, he’d like little kisses down his back or his partner to hold his hand, but most importantly to see their face. 

But Harry isn’t his partner, isn’t even a friend or a complete stranger Louis just met, no, they have history, and not the good kind. Louis never thought he’d ever be in the position with Harry, and never thought he’d enjoy it so much. 

The realisation makes him gasp loudly. 

Or maybe that’s Harry’s cock suddenly finding his prostate and nailing it after each shove. 

Both, Louis decides it’s both.

“Yeah, baby. Right there?” The alpha breaks Louis' trail of thoughts.

Louis only nods, not trusting his voice and trying to save himself from an embarrassment. Still, with Harry’s non-forgiving thrusts, Louis is only left whimpering loudly into the sheets. 

His arms start to give up, so he’s left no choice but to fall down on the bed, changing into a face-down, arse-up position, much to Harry’s pleasure, if his grunts and curses are anything to go by. 

Too overwhelmed, Louis is panting loudly, mouth open and the only sounds he manages to let out are strings of ‘uhs ‘and ‘ahs’ after each shove. He feels hot all over, there’s sweat on his forehead and at the nape of his neck, and most probably elsewhere too. 

For a moment Harry alters his movements, letting Louis suck in a much-needed deep breath, before he changes the angle of his thrusts, now relentlessly hitting Louis’ prostate. The smack of Harry’s balls and hips on Louis’ skin resonates in the whole room, echoing with Louis’ laboured breaths and Harry’s groans. 

Louis knows his climax is close.

“Gon— gonna,” Louis whimpers into the bed, the end of his sentence swallowed up by moans. 

“Yeah? You’re close?” Harry says with a hint of smugness in his tone. “Gonna come for me, baby?”

Louis tries to respond, to tell Harry to thrust harder so he can find release, but a particularly hard and well-aimed one almost seals the deal. It’s Harry reaching out to Louis’ leaking cock and giving it a few tugs that does. The double stimulation is too much for Louis, he comes in long streaks, full body trembling and panting.

Harry doesn’t last long after. The omega tries his best to keep his arse up to let Harry finish off, but despite his best efforts, he feels himself giving up. Harry must feel it too, so he circles Louis’ middle with his arms and holds him up. Only three deep thrusts later and the alpha comes with a deep growl, knot forming and locking inside Louis’ body. 

The intrusion makes Louis feel safe and sated, even more so when Harry collapses on top of him, unifying them completely. It’s silent for a bit, their orgasms leaving them both shuddering and gasping for a while.

“Okay?” Is the first thing Harry whispers. 

Louis nods first. “Yeah,” he then adds softly, knowing Harry would want a verbal confirmation.

“D’you need anything? Water? Snacks?”

Louis shakes his head. “Just—,” he starts but quickly drops it, too afraid of Harry’s reaction to his request. 

But Harry must have noticed, so he presses again. “Anything you want, love.”

“Can we, uhm, cuddle for a bit, please?” Louis says ever so softly. 

“Of course,” he replies, with a hint of smile. “Lemme just grab something to clean us up first.” 

Louis lets Harry do all the work, from cleaning them up with tissues from Louis’ nightstand, to repositioning them into a spooning position under the sheets. Louis is content, it’s a feeling of peace he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

It’s also the first time Louis and Harry don’t bicker for so long. It happened before, but they weren’t in each other's company. Post orgasm bliss really seems to do them wonders. 

Louis falls asleep in an instant. Just before, though, he feels a press of lips on his shoulder blade, it puts a smile on his face immediately. 

***

Louis wakes up satisfied and serene after a long night's sleep. There’s a warm chest behind him, keeping him safe as arms are circled around his waist, holding him close. Louis feels calm and secure, like he hasn’t in a long, long time. 

He hasn’t opened his eyes yet, but a smile forces itself on his lips. Louis doesn’t overthink it too much and lets himself enjoy this rare moment. Snuggling back into the warm body behind, he lets out a pleased sigh.

The sigh is echoed, soft and satisfied, but most importantly, it’s paired up with a morning wood pressing to his arse. Well, hello there, Louis thinks. He decides to tease a little bit and starts to rock back against the bulge poking him, in hopes to wake him up and start the funny business.

It does the trick in no time. “Hi,” a voice croaks out behind him. 

Louis freezes.

Shit. 

Now everything comes back to him. In seconds he gets out of Harry’s embrace and stumbles out of bed. He slept with Harry Styles last night, he remembers mortified. And the worst thing is that he enjoyed it. One of the best sex he’s had. 

Right now, though, is Louis’ absolute nightmare. How is he gonna deal with this without anyone else knowing what happened? How does he deal with Harry? How does he make him leave and swear not to tell anyone? 

“Erm. Hey, sorry I uhm, I,” he stammers. “I forgot, but I have— I’m invited to brunch with a few colleagues today. So, I’ll have to, uhm, go in a bit. Sorry.” He lies.

Even with his sleepy and bed-creased face, Harry looks unimpressed, like he knows exactly what Louis is doing.

He looks very warm and very cuddly, and if it wasn’t Harry, Louis would totally come back to bed and cuddle all morning. Maybe go back for a round or two.

“‘S alright,” he says with a deep, raspy voice. He’s rubbing his eyes with one hand and stretching, revealing his naked torso from under the sheets. Louis is incredibly endeared, and a little turned on. 

No, he isn’t. He can’t. He has to get dressed to attend his fake brunch and push Harry out of his place. 

After grabbing a few clothes, he locks himself in his bathroom. He splashes cold water on his face, hoping it’ll help with the hangover he ignored until now and set his mind clear. He takes his time dressing up to let time for the alpha in the other room to do the same, in hopes to avoid any more awkward conversations. 

When he steps back inside, Harry is dressed in yesterday’s clothes, he’s making Louis’ bed. There are come stains on the cover, Louis will have to wash them, but he still appreciates the effort. 

“Thanks. You didn’t have to,” Louis says. 

Harry only shrugs with a hint of smile, then finishes decreasing the pillows.

“Sorry, I have to push you out so soon.”

“It’s okay, Louis,” he repeats.

“Right. Uhm, thanks. For last night,” Louis mumbles. 

“Sure. I had a good time. Hope you did too,” Harry says. He’s much more composed and chill about it than Louis would like him to be.

“Yeah, that was good,” he answers. That’s an understatement. “Can you just not—”

“Tell anyone?” Harry cuts him off. “I won’t tell anyone. Promise,” he vows.

“Thanks. I won’t either.” 

Harry snorts. “You and I both know you’ll tell Zayn.” 

Louis gasps. He’s about to deny this very true statement but Harry beats him to it. “It’s okay, I don’t mind or care.” 

Louis doesn’t know what to say, so he just smiles appreciatively. 

“Anyway, I should go or you’ll be late to your brunch,” Harry moves to the door. 

At this point, Louis is sure he knows it’s all lies. He keeps playing, just for the sake of it and to avoid any more embarrassment. “Yeah. Have a good day, Harry.” 

He nods, reciprocates, and then he’s off. 

When Louis turns around, he’s met by the used condom lying on the floor, the one Harry probably threw away once his knot finally went down, only reminding him of what went down. 

To keep himself occupied and most importantly try to forget anything happened, Louis busies himself by cleaning his room and changes the sheets to some clean ones. 

He doesn't even lie back down on his bed for a few minutes before his phone is ringing loudly. 

“Spill,” Zayn says when Louis picks up. 

Louis groans. 

***

Like some sort of déjà vu, Louis comes back from work with a massive migraine and feeling poorly. It’s half past six on a Tuesday evening, his head is killing him, he’s sore everywhere, and any smell makes him gag.

This morning, he was at the school he works for, there to see three of his favourite kids for a session each. Everything went well, he was feeling good too.

It went downhill when he got to his office early in the afternoon and got his first couple for a counselling session. The session went alright, only Louis started getting a headache mid-session. He took a pill just before the next one, thinking it’ll pass soon enough. 

It didn’t. It became worse. 

The migraine only grew bigger and uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the worst. As the session went on, Louis’ sense of smell became incredibly sensitive, which resulted in him fighting off nausea at every alpha coming in. 

A bath, some pot noodles, a tea, and another pill later, Louis falls asleep in hopes of feeling better the next day. 

Of course, he doesn’t. 

His next few days are awful, he’s having a hard time focusing and getting any job done. Working at school is actually a bit easier except for the headaches which don’t disappear, but at least he doesn’t have to deal with annoying and smelly alphas. Nausea reappears as soon as he smells an alpha close to him, at work, in the street, even in the tube when he goes back home.

At first, he thought he’d caught a bad flu or had eaten something bad and not fresh, but when he reaches Friday evening, and nothing has passed, Louis gets a bit worried and decides to look it up online, and see a doctor the next day if what he finds is too worrying. 

He types his main symptoms into the search bar then hits enter. He’s directed to a few articles and websites, he goes through the first few the search suggests but none of them seems to match all his symptoms, all of them are missing the nausea problem. 

He’s about to give up and simply consider going to see a professional when a headline catches his eye. ‘Accidental Temporary Bond: What To Do?’ it reads. 

Louis is intrigued. It’s the first time he hears about temporary bonds. He clicks the link; in case it happens to show similar symptoms to those he has. The first thing that stands out to him is the first symptom: irritability to smells. 

Oh?

He scrolls down a bit, only reading the bolded words for now and finds another that catches his attention: flu symptoms. 

Well, that sounds oddly familiar. 

That’s when he gives in and reads the whole thing. 

A temporary bond, he finds out,  _ is a bond people form, usually through sexual intercourse, or through emotional connection but it’s rare. It’s the same thing as a real bond, created when people mate, except it’s temporary, therefore can be removed _ . 

What did he get himself into?

Refreshing his memory, Louis tries to think back to something happening out of the ordinary in vain. He doesn’t remember creating an emotional connection with anyone. And surely you remember that kind of thing, right?

Regarding sexual intercourse, well. The last time Louis had sex was on that regrettable one night stand he shared with Harry. From the beginning, it was proved to be a bad decision, and even days later, it’s still haunting Louis. 

Quite literally.

Louis tried his best to go on with his life. It happened, they helped each other out, it’s fine. 

Except it’s not. 

First of all, Louis has been really paranoid that Harry would reveal their dirty little secret. He’s been on the edge for the past week, hoping nothing slipped and no one figured anything. 

But that’s not even the worst thing!

Louis has been dreaming about Harry for the last five days non-stop. Both innocent dreams, but also some very explicit ones. Dreams about them having sex again, but also living together, building a family, growing old together. 

And now their one-night stand might be the cause of all his health problems? The universe is really trying to punish him. 

Louis sighs. “How do I deal with this then,” he says out loud, focusing back on the page before him. 

_ To some people, it’s the first step before proper bonding: a temporary bond can influence and make the bonding process easier. While to some others, it’s a bond that can be removed, only if the two ends of the bond avoid each other for two weeks in order to close it. There are side effects when the bond isn’t preserved, mainly irritability to smells and flu-like symptoms, but these start to fade out when the bond starts to weaken and ultimately break. If symptoms don’t stop despite two weeks of avoidance, consider seeing a doctor just in case. _

Right. Well, that’s annoying. All that trouble for an orgasm, a very pleasing one at that, but still, Louis would have passed.

It’s been exactly a week since they fucked, that temporary bond should break soon since they haven’t seen each other since. Two weeks seems easy. It’s not like they hang out together: the only time they see each other is when they hang out with everyone else. He’ll have to find an excuse to miss next week’s plans, then it’ll be two weeks, and everything will get back to normal. Perfect. 

Louis closes his laptop, satisfied to have found a remedy to his problems, but still a bit annoyed that Harry is still the reason for these. It’ll pass soon, Louis thinks. For now, he fetches himself another ibuprofen, then gets into bed, and hopes to fall asleep soon and for his migraine to be gone tomorrow morning.

It’s when he’s about to fall asleep that a notification rings and startles him. It’s a text from Liam to their group chat. 

“Here’s the itinerary complete and in PDF form. Everyone please download it so we don’t have any issues,” it reads. 

Louis smiles, that’s so entirely Liam to send a PDF copy of the itinerary of their trip to everyone and ask them all to save it. Liam worries too much for his own good sometimes. Still, Louis listens and downloads it before setting his phone back down.

Then it hits him. 

“You’ve got to be  _ kidding _ me,” he groans out loud. 

Harry will be there too.

The group leaves next Wednesday morning for a road trip of two weeks all through Europe. They’ve been planning this for months. Everything is ready, Louis can’t cancel, especially for no reason. There’s no way anyone can know about him and Harry, so no one can know about this temporary bond issue. 

Wednesday morning also means the two weeks delay won’t be met, and there’s chance Louis’ problems won’t get fixed. What will happen then? The website didn’t specify anything concerning this issue. 

What’s Louis going to do?

He’s so screwed. 


	2. Chapter 2

Luckily for him, Louis’ headaches and nausea stop after a few days. 

Only his mind and worries don’t rest.

For days he tries to find a solution to fix it all. Obviously, he tells Zayn everything, and the omega promises to help Louis deal with it, without anyone risking to find out the truth. Zayn also suggests for Louis to call a doctor and set up an appointment to be certain about the diagnosis but, unfortunately, it’s too short notice for Louis’ practician to book him one. 

So here he is, anxious in his bed on Tuesday evening, hours before the beginning of their road trip, imagining all kinds of scenarios going wrong in his head.

He doesn’t get much sleep that night and has to be up at 6 AM to leave for the airport half an hour later, so the day doesn’t start really well. Thankfully he’s able to catch a few more minutes of sleep during their two-hour flight to Berlin. 

He lets himself be guided through the airport and to the rental cars they booked for the entirety of their trip. Liam and Harry offer to drive to join the city centre, so without hesitation Louis follows Liam, with Zayn and Niall in tow, while the girls join Harry.

That’s what Louis plans on doing for the rest of the trip, ignoring and staying away from Harry as much as possible, to be able to close the bond. So far, he’s doing well, and let’s be honest, that won’t change much from what he tries to do anytime they’re together. 

“Hey, Louis, we were thinking,” Niall prompts. Louis hums to show he’s listening and encourages the beta to continue. “You know, that it’d be nice if this trip could be a way to help you and Harry get along better. Like try again with a fresh start and maybe get along and hang out more.”

Or maybe it will.

Louis sighs. “Ni—”

“No, no, Lou, listen! It’s the perfect opportunity for you two to start over and get to know one another,” he tries again. “We’re gonna have a fun time, and we’d be gutted if you didn’t try to get along.”

“No, but Niall, I tried already. I really did,” Louis sighs. “You know I did, you saw it too. I’m not the one who didn’t make efforts and didn’t at least try to make civil conversations. You shouldn’t blame me, and you know it,” he insists.

“I’m blaming you both, mate. That’s why I’m asking you both to try and make an effort. It’s the perfect occasion, we’re gonna live in each other’s pocket for two weeks and do awesome stuff. Just try to get along, try to understand, tolerate, or even become friends with each other,” he adds, hopeful. “If it doesn’t work when we go home, it’s okay I won’t blame you and you can go back to ignoring each other, but please at least try one last time. For me,” he pleads.

Louis groans. Out of all the times, it’s got to be when Louis absolutely needs to avoid Harry. “Fine, I’ll try,” he concedes. In a few days after the temporary bond is out of the way is what he doesn’t add.

Niall smiles brightly at Louis’ answer and then it’s silence again in the car, only Louis can also see Liam smiling to himself, so he knows they probably talked about it beforehand. Louis hates the situation, he truly does, he hates bothering his friends and hates when his and Harry’s disdain creates tensions in the group, but right now he’s got no choice but to stay away from Harry. If his friends knew the whole story, he knows they’d understand.

***

The first two days of their trip go without a hitch. 

They rented a nice Airbnb in the city centre for a night to be able to visit the capital city before following with the real start of their road trip and joining Rome three days later, with stops in Munich and Milan.

They separate in groups: some go to museums, others stroll through various parks and markets, and meet later in the evening to try a local restaurant. So far so good, Louis manages to enjoy his day, while also carefully avoiding Harry, but not raising any suspicions. He goes as far as rushing to the farther bedroom in the loft and claiming it as his own to share with Perrie so he can avoid sleeping close to the alpha. 

The second day flows easily, they all brunch after Liam and Olivia run to the shops, then explore a few more streets, before packing everything mid-afternoon, to join their next stop, Munich. The car configuration changes a bit from the first one, but Louis and Harry still stay apart, to Louis’ biggest relief.

Once they reach Munich, they quickly find a camping ground near a lake, thanks to Liam’s thorough research and planning. They’re all able to set their tents up and take a quick shower in the common area before the sun sets and enjoy their evening. 

After that night, it becomes a little harder to manage, though. 

His day starts the wrong way when he wakes up two hours after the others and misses the yoga session Olivia directs. Louis doesn’t really care for yoga, but he’d still have participated to have fun with his friends, but most importantly, Louis would have loved to join the swimming and lounging by the lake.

Unfortunately, Louis slept through all of that, only for Perrie to wake him up just before lunch. The thing is, Louis did push that onto himself when he set his tent a little too far away from everyone. For limited space reasons, Louis brought a single place tent, everyone did but Liam and Zayn and Angela and Olivia, so first, he had no one to wake him up. Second, being away from everyone meant away from the lake and away from any noise. Third, despite feeling much better than the week before, Louis is still more tired than usual, and since he didn’t set any alarm, he naturally woke up much later. 

That also means when he joins everyone by the table, all seats are taken except one, and unlike Louis, they didn’t think to place him away from Harry. No, on the contrary the only seat left is directly next to the alpha.

In an instant, a dilemma sets in his mind: what is he supposed to do? 

He needs to stay away from Harry to be able to close to bond, sitting directly next to him isn’t good enough. And it hasn’t been two weeks yet, what is going to happen if he can’t break the bond? On the other hand, he promised Niall to make an effort. Changing seats when only one is left for him is going to be totally obvious, quite rude even. 

Reluctantly, he sits down, knowing he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he did otherwise. 

All lunch Louis makes himself as small as possible, closed off and annoyingly careful not to brush the man beside him. He scrutinises every single of his and Harry’s movements to prevent any accidental touching. He’s so concentrated he almost misses Olivia calling out for him. 

“Lou, you alright?” She breaks his trance. 

“Mhm?” He inquires. “Yeah, good.”

“You seem lost or something,” she insists. 

“Just a little tired. Don’t worry about me,” Louis smiles reassuringly.

“You’ll be able to sleep in the car if you want. We’ve got another five-hour drive today,” Liam adds. 

Louis nods and is thankful when Niall redirects the conversation to another topic. 

He doesn’t end up sleeping in the car, only rests a little by reading a book. 

When they reach Milan in the evening, Louis doesn’t make the same mistake and stays relatively close to the other tents. He also sets up an alarm at 8 am, for good measure but also since they plan on visiting the city a little. 

Louis thinks everything is under control again, that little slip up from earlier won’t happen again, he’s fine, he’ll get through next week without a hitch. 

Little does he know a stupid game of truth and dare will ruin everything. 

It starts innocently, Perrie and Angela suggest it after they're done with dinner, Niall supports that, bringing a pack of beer in addition, and soon enough they’re all sat around the bonfire. 

They begin slowly with a few indiscreet questions, some funny dares, like Liam daring Angela to a striptease or Zayn daring Perrie to ask for the number of the guy she had been staring at when they were installing their tents.

And then it’s Louis’ turn. 

“Truth or dare?” Niall slurs when he finishes his sip. 

“Dare,” Louis says confidently. 

The beta thinks about it for a bit, then sets his bottle down on the ground. Louis looks at him confused, until everything makes sense when he speaks up again. “Sit on the lap of the person the bottle decides for the next two rounds.”

“Go for it.” 

There’s not an ounce of apprehension in Louis as the bottle spins around, except nothing prepares him for where the neck of the bottle stops. 

Right on Harry. 

His face falls in an instant and colour drains from his first cheerful expression. 

Amused ‘oh’s’ and laughter come from his friends, but Harry’s face is unreadable. 

“Come on, go on,” Niall insists. Louis is left no choice but to comply once again.

Talk about avoiding Harry. It’s like the universe is trying its best to glue them together exactly when Louis needs to stay away the most. It’s not about his hate or resentment of Harry anymore, right now he’s only trying to steer clear of the alpha for the sake of this temporary bond he’d like to break, but fate seems to have decided otherwise.

It’s with a deep sigh that Louis stands up to join Harry’s side and sits on the front of his lap with his arms crossed protectively around himself, trying to keep as much distance as he still can. Neither of them says a word, they just pay attention to the game, or pretend to, in Louis’ case. 

Louis isn’t at ease, he’s all stiff and wriggling around to get comfortable while still trying to keep everything to himself, and Harry definitely notices.

“Stop moving,” Harry hisses.

“Look at them,” Liam sighs. "Can’t stand each other for barely two minutes.” 

“It’s not that. It’s just—”

“If you say it’s because my arse is too big, I’ll punch you,” Louis threatens out of nowhere. 

“No, your arse is perfect. You are annoying, though. Stop squirming around for fuck’s sake!”

“'S not my fault your lap is uncomfortable,” Louis argues. He won’t think of the first part of Harry’s reply. He won't, he doesn’t, nope.

It’s Harry’s hands lifting him up that stops his trail of thoughts. He lets out a yelp in surprise when hands find his hips.

“Just stay still,” the alpha tells him once he positions Louis sideways and keeps his arms locked around his middle.

Now he’s well into Harry’s space, no question asked. He only hopes the bond had time to fully break, or else he’s screwed. He doesn’t put up a fight, there’s no reason to, he stays still for the rest of the round and eagerly waits for the end of the next one to leave.

“Louis, truth or dare?” Perrie demands.

Louis wasn’t expecting his turn to be so soon or maybe he isn’t paying attention. “Truth,” he tentatively answers, hoping for something much gentler. 

But of course, with Louis, when it rains, it pours.

“Who’s the last person you had sex with and how much would you rate them out of ten?” She asks.

It’s not a bond they formed, it’s a curse. 

“Uhm, that was the guy I met at the club last week,” he keeps it vague and simple. 

“Rate?” Perrie presses.

“And, uh,” he hesitates, feeling himself reddening more as he speaks. “I’d say eight.” 

“That good?” Niall wonders. “Did you keep his number to see him again?”

“No, that was just a one-time thing,” Louis cuts short the conversation. With his luck today, he’d rather not test it and have them figure everything out. 

He doesn’t miss a beat to ask the next question, which ends up being a dare to jump fully clothed into the water that he gives to Niall as a vengeance.

“Thanks, I’d give you an eight too,” is then whispered from behind him, followed by a hip squeeze that makes Louis twitch at the sudden contact.

Like clockwork, the blush reappears and visions of their night too. Luckily the dreams seemed to have stopped for the past two days, but he’s got an inkling it’s far from over.

Louis must zone out for a while. When he becomes aware of it, he doesn’t know what or who shook him out of it, but he’s confused to see Olivia, Angela, Zayn, and Liam finish a cartwheel race, so Louis realises he must have missed a few dares.

He feels a gentle pat on his left thigh next.

“Sorry to disturb, you seem comfy right there,” Harry whispers again. “But I just thought you should know you could have gone back to your seat a round ago.” 

Louis never moved so fast.

***

They reach Rome in the evening after a six-hour drive from Milan. 

Louis has had a good day. 

It’s the first one in two weeks he wakes up fine and well-rested. His alarm wakes him up at 8 am, and an hour later he’s set and ready to go, tent and bags all packed in the car. 

They decide to explore Milan in the morning, for three hours they stroll around the historical centre and then stop at the Sempione Park to have a picnic all together. Louis is able to take a few pictures and visit a few souvenir and speciality shops, and each of them gets a gelato before joining the road again. Happy days!

For the first time of their trip, Louis hops into the passenger seat with no intention of sleeping or resting. On the contrary, as soon as Angela hits the gas pedal, Louis plugs in his best Spotify playlist into the AUX cord, turning the boring, long drive south into a cheery singalong. 

They arrive around eight in the evening in their rented house near Rome. Louis was the one who found it online and suggested to spend two nights and two days here, as a little break from camping and to be able to fully enjoy the city. 

There’s a pool outside, as well as a BBQ and large table, so through the hours, they alternate between eating and swimming, like a true summer evening. 

When Louis gets to bed later that night, he thinks back on his day and realises he was truly happy and wasn’t focused on avoiding Harry at all costs for the first time of their trip. Everything was done naturally and went without a hitch.

That’s also when he realises that all his symptoms seem to have worn out. No more headache, no more irritability of smells, thank God nausea hasn’t returned either, and he doesn’t feel bone-tired like he usually did the past two weeks. 

The bond might be finally broken, Louis thinks. 

***

The following morning is a pleasant one again, no symptoms in sight, only eagerness to start the day. 

Rome is a city Louis has been keen on visiting for a long time. He was the one to insist on staying in the city for two full days, claiming the first day could be to discover the city and do a little shopping, while the second would be a full beach day. That, and he rightly chose the house too. Let’s be real, that's the only stop he got invested in as much, but Liam seemed grateful for his input back then. 

When he steps outside of his room, he doesn’t hear a sound. He figures they all are out by the pool, so he makes himself a tea and a bowl of cereal in silence. When he steps out, he’s alone again. He figures he’s the first one up, something of rare occurrence, and decides to go out to enjoy the warm morning and wait for the others to wake up. 

He doesn’t have to wait too long.

“Slept well?” A deep, hoarse voice comes from behind him. 

Louis chokes on his cereals. “Good. You?” He asks when he recovers. 

“Very well. You did find us a good place,” Harry says as he stretches out. 

Louis is not looking. He’s not. Why does Harry always have to be half naked? 

“Yeah,” is what he ends the conversation with. 

Progressively, the others join to have breakfast outside and by 10 AM they are all off to visit Rome. As always, they separate in little groups and then meet again for lunch where they treat themselves to pasta and pizza. 

Later in the afternoon, they decide to split again. Louis had spotted a tiny street full of vintage and thrift shops on his way here and told everyone he’d come here to check them out in the afternoon, while the others preferred mainstream clothing lines. 

“I’ll have a run to the vintage shops down the street and meet you back here later, okay?” Louis says before going his way. 

“Alright. Text us when you’re done, so you know where to join us,” Perrie tells him. 

Louis throws a thumbs up and then he’s on his way.

“You coming, H?” He hears Olivia ask. 

“I think I’ll go with Louis,” is what he answers.

“Of course,” Louis mumbles to himself, rolling his eyes. He doesn’t listen to the rest of the conversation and starts walking in the direction of the shops alone. He is fuming. What does he want? Again? And here Louis thought he’d enjoy this day and have fun vintage shopping. Just ask Harry Styles to ruin everything. 

“What’s your problem?” Louis asks once he feels Harry reaching his level. 

“What?” He sounds surprised. 

Louis only huffs, knowing damn well he’s only pretending to be innocent. He hasn’t got time anyway. 

“No, no, Louis, what’s wrong? What did I do?” He rushes to Louis’ side and tentatively grabs his arm to stop him. 

With a rough jerk, Louis pushes his hand away. “Don’t touch me,” he warns. “And don’t pretend you aren’t here to ruin my day.” 

“I’m not pretending anything,” he sounds genuinely confused. Good acting, Louis figures. 

“I’m only here because you’re going to the vintage and thrift shops.” 

“As if you have any interest in vintage shopping,” Louis snorts.

“I actually do, Louis. Always have,” Harry’s tone turns cold and stern, not the playful or teasing one Louis is used to. “Half of my clothes are from vintage shops I buy in London or online. I do have a pretty big vinyl collection too and figured I could have a look for those while I’m at it. If you want another proof,” he pauses to grab and unlock his phone. “Here is me looking for vintage shops in Rome this morning. I was going to go there with or without you, only figured that it’d be easier to find the place with someone else.” 

Louis is left speechless for a bit. 

“I—Sorry, I didn’t know you liked that kind of stuff. Just thought that—” Louis doesn’t finish his sentence, too embarrassed and knowing none of his excuses will justify his outburst. 

“Yeah, well, you don’t know much about me, do you?” Harry retorts, ending the conversation once and for all.

There’s an awkward silence all the way there, and as soon as they enter the first shop, Harry goes one way and Louis the other, not another single word or glance is spared to the other. 

Still, Louis feels bad. 

He knows he overreacted, assumed things, and was awfully rude to Harry over nothing. As he goes around the store, looking through various shirt racks, his mind is elsewhere. He has this urge to find Harry and talk to apologise. It’s never happened before, even when Louis was wrong or rude, he never thought about apologising, much less had any need to do so. 

But right now, guilt is eating him. Nothing will appease him other than apologising. 

What triggered his outburst, in the beginning, was the fear of being near Harry, and yet, now all he wants is to be close to him and plead forgiveness. Yes, he was looking for some relaxing time shopping, but now the situation is nothing but a concern and stress-filled nightmare. 

Nothing catches his eye, and every now and then he’s looking over in hopes to catch a glimpse of the alpha. He knows, deep down, that this unease won’t be solved if he doesn’t act soon, temporary bond be damned. It’s been two weeks now anyway. He figures the bond must be broken or at least in the final stage. Thus, a little conversation won’t hurt. It’s not like they are ever going to have sex and be close to each other that way again. Louis really wants to apologise.

And if they can bond (not literally) over vintage stuff, then, by all means, Louis would be glad to finally share civil conversations with the alpha and maybe a beginning of friendship if he’s lucky. 

It’s as soon as he catches the sight of a Hawaiian shirt-wearing broad back and curly hair that his decision is made.

“Hey,” he timidly says when he reaches Harry’s side. 

The alpha looks at him but doesn’t say anything back. He’s back looking through shirts a second after.

“Harry, please,” Louis begs. “I just want to apologise.”

“Mhmm,” he replies, not convinced or not interested, maybe both. 

“Harry, I’m sorry,” Louis tries again. “I really am. I shouldn’t have reacted that way, I shouldn’t have assumed. I’m sorry.” 

Harry sighs. It’s the first time he truly looks into Louis’ eyes. “I always get told off by everyone that I should make efforts and try to make friends with you,” he starts. “And anytime I try, that’s what I get in answer. How is that fair?” 

“It’s not, I’m sorry,” Louis repeats. “But for the record, I do the same. Make efforts and try making friends with you I mean. You give me the same treatment, Harry.”

“And here you are, making excuses again. I don’t want to talk to you, Louis.” 

“I’m not. I’m not making excuses. I’m just saying that I’m trying too. You’re not the only one. We both are and we both suck at it.”

No response comes after, no more eye contact either. Understanding that there’s not much more he can do, Louis decides to leave Harry in peace. He purposely apologises once again, just for good measure. 

Even if the discussion didn’t go as planned, Louis feels lighter knowing he apologised. The conversation is still on his mind but, for the first time since he stepped inside the shop, he can finally concentrate on the clothes displayed in front of him. 

He’s already found three shirts and has been contemplating taking this soft baby blue sweater when someone approaches him. He figures that must be another customer looking through the items behind him.

Except it’s not.

“Take it. Bet it’ll bring out the blue in your eyes.” 

The voice startles him at first. His hand freezes on the soft sleeve of the sweater. He doesn’t have to turn around to know who it belongs to. 

He ducks his head to the side to hide the slight blush he knows is rising on his cheeks. Only Harry must interpret it another way. 

“I’m being serious,” he says. 

“I know,” Louis murmurs. “Thank you,” he adds louder once he finds his voice again.

“I’m sorry too, for earlier. I shouldn’t have said all that. I know you’re trying, and believe me, so I am.” 

“I believe you,” Louis echoes. 

It’s silence again, but not their usual one. It’s like they both understand what’s not being said. 

Louis breaks it by reaching for the sweater, placing it around his arm with the other items he plans to buy. “Did you find anything good?” 

“Yeah, couple of shirts, a cap, and a cardigan,” Harry says. “Will go down the road to the vinyl shop later.” 

“Cool,” Louis nods. “Did you pay already?” 

“Was about to. It’s over there.” 

While Harry guides them to checkout, Louis ponders how actually easy it is to talk with the alpha. He knew they had common interests before, but since they barely had any civil conversations, he never knew how easy and nice it was to talk to him. He didn’t know Harry was trying to be kind and make things work either, too caught up in his own self to realise he wasn’t the only one trying and that he could try a little harder to meet the other hand.

Many realisations in so little time, and yet, Louis also finds that he wants to spend more time with the alpha. Like right now. He wants to spend more time alone vintage shopping with Harry. It doesn’t surprise him as much as it should. 

It does surprise the alpha, though. 

Louis went first to pay, and now he’s outside, waiting for Harry to step out. 

“I’m gonna see down the street for the vinyl store, you can meet up with the others, I’ll join you all when I’m done,” he says once he comes out.

“No, I’ll come with you if that’s okay?” he checks just in case.

“Uhh, sure. That might be pretty boring for you, though.” 

“It’s fine,” Louis reassures. I just want to spend time with you and get to know you, is what he doesn’t say. 

They walk side by side for a bit, then separate when they enter the shop, Louis letting Harry do his thing. It’s a fairly small shop, so they’re bound to meet again rapidly, but still, Louis takes his time looking through the different covers, recognising a few of his favourite albums. He’s never been into vinyl, doesn’t even have a vinyl record player, but he decides on taking two:  _ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not _ and  _ Back to Black _ .

It’s Harry that meets him first. The alpha approaches with three vinyl already under his arm. “Good choices,” he says. 

“Yeah, some of my favourites. What do you have there?” Louis asks. 

“Limited edition of Fleetwood Mac’s  _ Rumours _ , one of  _ Night at the Opera _ , and  _ Still Bill _ ,” he answers. 

“You said you were collecting them?” Louis asks, he wants to learn more about him, and it looks like a topic Harry is fond of, seeing the hint of a smile that’s been on his face for the past half an hour. 

“Yeah, I mean kind of. I just love music so much, and vinyl are so authentic and a work of art in themselves. Through the years I’ve bought many, been gifted many, so at some point, it makes a pretty big collection. And I love coming into vinyl shops, the atmosphere is incredible.”

Louis watches as Harry’s eyes sparkle the more he talks about music, and he never thought Harry to be so passionate about something, let alone music, and that sight surprises him. It also makes him smile at the alpha, really endeared to see this side of him.

“Do you play?” Louis wonders. “Music, I mean.” 

“Guitar, yeah.” 

“That’s cool,” Louis smiles. “I know a bit of piano, like the basics. It helps me write sometimes.”

Harry’s eyes widen. “You’re a writer?”

“Songs. Songwriter is more fitting,” Louis explains. “Not professionally or anything, some stuff I write is terrible, but it helps to put words onto things sometimes. I learned that in class at Uni, that it could help and feel liberating to write songs about how you are feeling or whatever is happening in your life.” 

It’s Harry’s turn to smile. “Yeah, I do that with poetry. I read a lot and found that it could help writing as well.” 

The more they talk, the more they find out they share similar tastes and interests. Louis knew that before but wasn’t aware of this extent. For once, the conversation doesn’t stop after two minutes, no swearing or shouting is involved. Quite the contrary, even on their way back to their friends, the conversation flows easily, jumping from one subject to another. 

When they reach the group, they can’t quite believe what they are seeing. 

“Am I dreaming?” Niall asks when he sees it. “Someone please wake me up.” 

Rolling eyes is what he gets in answer.

***

The next day is beach day. 

They go down just after noon, sandwiches and towels ready, to a little spot away from the crowd, but perfect to alternate swimming and sunbathing, which is what Louis plans on doing all day. 

Last night they had a quiet night in, a good dinner that Zayn and Olivia cooked for everyone, then they watched a movie in the home cinema of the villa they are at. Now, Louis is quietly lounging on his towel, the sun is nicely burning down his back, he hears waves come and go, there’s a little breeze of air, he really can’t ask for anything more.

Which is what he tells Zayn when the omega asks how he’s feeling. 

“Feeling good, man. Having the best time.” 

Zayn smiles, happy to see his friend like this. “And the symptoms?”

“Gone,” Louis can happily say. “’M not as tired as before, no more nausea, no more problem of smell, no headache, nothing.”

“You reckon it’s broken then?”

“Yeah, think so. I spent some time with him yesterday, and nothing happened, so I’m pretty sure it’s gone.” 

“Speaking of that. How did it go?” Zayn pushes. 

“Figured you’d ask sooner,” Louis teases. “It was okay, really. I was a bit of a dick at first, but I apologised, and then we talked about a few things. It was nice.” 

“Wasn’t so hard, then?” 

“No, it wasn’t,” Louis rolls his eyes. 

“Who thought you two fucking could finally solve everything.” Zayn sing-songs.

“Shhhh,” Louis says with wide eyes, afraid that anyone could hear it. “Shut up, it’s not true,” Louis adds indignantly. 

“Hm,” Zayn hums. “If you say so.” 

“I know so,” Louis glares. 

Zayn kindly drops the subject but his sly, knowing smile is still there. 

Louis turns around, huffing, and decides to ignore Zayn for the time being, and instead focus on his tan. Lying down in the warm heat does him wonders: he dozes off only a few minutes after.

A shadow on top of him is what wakes him up. He blinks awake a few times and realises the shadow is actually someone standing above him, covering the sunlight. After some eye adjusting, he discovers it’s Harry standing there. His back is facing Louis, but his tattoos are giving him away, it’s the closeness between them that throws Louis a little bit.

“Hey?” Louis asks, confused. 

Harry turns around while Louis sits up. There’s a soft smile on the alpha’s face. “Hi, honey,” he says, moving up to sit down on Louis’ towel, right next to him.

Louis freezes. What? 

“Had a good nap?” Harry asks, not missing a beat. Then, like the most cliché rom-com scene ever, Harry’s face is slowly moving in the direction of Louis’ own, his hand comes lifting Louis’ chin up, and before he knows it, a gentle peck is placed onto his lips. 

Louis’ eyes widen, and before he can stop it, another press joins the first one.

He’s unable to speak, let alone move. What is Harry doing? Why? Have the others seen it? What? How? 

He’s about to finally ask for the answer to these questions when he’s cut off once again, this time by a long, loud shriek. 

“Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy!!!” a high-pitched voice belonging to a little girl comes through. “Daddy, come see my castle!!”

“Stop screaming, Rosie,” Harry gently scolds. 

“But come see my castle, daddy, please,” she begs, much quieter this time. "Papa!!” she gasps. “Papa, you awake! Come see my castle too.” 

Shock crosses his face again, and his mouth drops open slightly. He feels light-headed suddenly. Daddy? Papa? Rosie? Their… daughter?

“Shhh, darling, calm down. Papa just woke up, so be gentle.” The little girl looks apologetic all of a sudden, Harry senses it and immediately reassures her. “It’s okay, lovie, give him a cuddle then we’ll go see that castle, okay?” 

She enthusiastically nods and then gets down Louis’ level. “Sorry, Papa,” she says, cuddling up to him, even adding a little kiss on Louis’ cheek. 

The more he looks at her, the more he sees the resemblance: brown, curly, long hair, bright, blue eyes, small dimples, little freckles dotting her button nose and cheeks. It’s uncanny. 

A daughter? His daughter? Harry’s and his child? Harry? 

He doesn’t have time to process all what it entails when he’s called again. “Lou, baby?” Harry calls. “Can you grab the phone, please? Let’s take some pics of this pretty castle, Ro.” He hears a loud cheering in answer.

Except he can’t move. He can’t do anything, can’t move, can’t talk, can’t think, can’t breathe. 

“Lou?” He calls again? “Lou?” 

Lou? Lou? Lou? Lou? Lou? Lou? Lou? Lou?

His eyes shoot open on a gasp. For a second, he can barely breathe, it’s the hand on his shoulder, shaking it that makes him come back to his senses and get his breathing back.

“Lou, you okay, mate?” Liam is asking, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Yeah,” he croaks out. “Yeah, just a bad dream,” he adds after taking a few deep breaths and wiping away the tear stains on his cheeks.

It wasn’t exactly bad, but he refuses to admit it.

“Ah, that sucks,” Liam says for lack of better words. “Was just coming here to tell you we were all going into the water if you wanna join us? Also, you might wanna put some sunscreen on or you’re going to suffer tomorrow.” 

Louis looks down to find his tummy and chest already reddening a bit, that’s when he wonders how long he’s been napping there. 

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Join you right after!” 

“Okay, cool, man!”

While he applies his sunblock, he thinks back to what just happened. It seemed so real, is the thing, real and pleasant. And it shouldn’t. He shouldn’t find a dream about his enemy and their apparent daughter pleasant. He shouldn’t dream about him in the first place. 

They had stopped. He hadn’t had one in five days. He thought this living nightmare was over. Apparently not, he sighs. 

Shaking his head in hopes to erase any memory or thought, Louis comes back to his senses and decides to pretend nothing happened. 

He joins his friends in the water five minutes later, where they all are cooling down and letting themselves rocked by the gentle waves, it’s peaceful and nice, well, until Niall gets in and starts a water fight. 

Everything escalates quickly, Niall chooses the wrong target to start with, Olivia, who’s known to be extremely competitive and unforgiving. 

Soon enough, everyone is involved, whether they want it or not. All of them are splashing each other, both defensively and attacking, quickly evolving into a fight and throwing each other under the water and in the air. 

For the most part, Louis is lucky. He manages to dodge and dive in the right time to avoid any attack, and he doesn’t test his luck by going to the affront himself. So far, so good, he hopes to finish intact. 

Only, it’s too good to be true. 

He doesn’t really know how he ends up there, but, somehow, his head is pushed underwater, and then arms are securing around his waist to bring him up. The attacker must have come from behind and took Louis by surprise, so he had no way to defend himself and attack back.

It’s the hands still around his waist that surprise him the most. Any of his friends would run away to protect themselves from Louis’ retaliations, but no, this one doesn’t move, on the contrary bringing Louis closer. 

Catching his breath, Louis becomes aware of three things. One, he hadn’t realised, but he’s actually pretty far away from everyone else, ending up totally out of the fight. Two, when he deciphers who’s fighting who, who’s under or above water, he notices that he can see all his friends. Strangely, it doesn’t worry him much. Three, the arms around his waist are moving up his sides, hugging him back to a chest, and now he can identify who these belong to, glimpse of a tattooed anchor giving it away. 

It doesn’t surprise him in the moment. How long it lasts, is what does, though. It feels like an eternity when he’d expect barely a second. 

Harry’s touch feels heavy on his skin, but not harsh, quite gentle, actually, considering the past actions. His touch lingers, not a word is uttered, only breaths matching the sound of waves. 

Louis stays frozen, similar to the sensation he dreamed of.

Harry’s touch is warm, it’s something Louis has never experienced before. He doesn’t mind it at first, thinking it’s only a game, that Harry will let go soon, but it doesn’t last long. Every moment passes, and the touch progressively feels hotter, it’s like an abnormal warmth sets inside his whole body. Despite the water and outside heat, Louis starts feeling shivers going through him. It first starts on his sides, where Harry’s hands are, then up his arms, neck, and then takes him whole. The longer it lasts, the more Louis feels off.

It doesn’t last a full minute, yet to Louis, it feels like an eternity. He feels so much in so little time, and that’s when he knows it’s not normal. So many emotions and sensations go through him in such a short span. He doesn’t know how to explain it, but deep inside, he knows it’s not right. 

He’s not the one breaking the moment it’s actually Harry who thankfully does. He must have noticed how off Louis was. “Louis, you okay?” He asks.

“Yeah,” he manages to mumble back.

He doesn’t want to imagine how Harry perceives him, seeing the state of his mind and internal conflict. He only hopes he can let this go and not mention it again.

Harry steps away from Louis’ space, his hands finally leave his skin, but a lingering sensation stays, though. He does a quick check, looking at Louis for a moment more, as if he was trying to read through him, before he leaves to join the others, brows in a frown, expression hard and confused. Once Louis is by himself, he decides to go as far away as possible, and ends up walking back to his towel alone. It’s maybe not his best choice if discretion was what he was aiming for, but his mind doesn’t give him a choice, he needs to stay away.

As he warms up, one thing is clear in his mind. He doesn’t know what happened minutes ago, nor what happened earlier in his dreams, can’t explain any of it, but what he knows for sure, is that he needs to keep his distance from the alpha.

His past worries gone, the conversation he had with Zayn earlier and his dream that strangely looked like a premonitory one echoing in his mind, and that’s when he realises, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

***

Eventually, Louis’ worries appease themselves, with a little help, nevertheless, but the rest of the afternoon goes well. He doesn’t mention it to anyone, only makes himself a promise to see a doctor as soon as he comes back home. 

He doesn’t speak or stay close to Harry again. 

When it reaches eight o’clock, Louis and Perrie volunteer to be of pizza duty, calling the pizzeria to prepare everyone’s order. They stop by to buy a few packs of beers just before, then, with full arms, they join the group back on the beach.

While the two were gone, a tablecloth has been laid down on the sand, and everyone changed from their swimsuits to more covered outfits, Louis himself opting for jorts and a striped tee.

Louis hadn’t seen everyone changing, but most importantly, he hadn’t seen Harry. 

He did see Harry in his green swim shorts all day. He saw him shirtless more times than he can count during this trip, he saw him in underwear too, but he always averted his gaze from the alpha.

Right now, though, it’s almost impossible for Louis to detach his eyes from him.

There, in brown suede-coloured shorts and an oversized white blouse, is Harry, looking like some Prince Charming slash Greek God. 

His chest is on display, revealing the necklaces Louis remembers feeling on his skin. He notices how extra curlier Harry’s hair is, most probably due to the salt water he spent the afternoon in, which reveals the lighter strands of hair framing his face. Sleeves are falling past his fingers, letting the blouse slip down his shoulder. The dark ink contrasts with the white, fluid material, it’s almost see-through even, since Louis can guess the outline of Harry’s butterfly and laurel tattoos. Louis notices Harry must have changed nail polish within the last two days, now a golden colour replacing the past neon orange one he knows was there. Looking up again, he sees dimples now taking over Harry’s entire face, crinkles by his eyes and a wide smile as he laughs. The tip of his nose is red, the high of his cheeks too, probably sunburnt. It makes him look younger, full of joy. Behind him is the sea, calm and serene, with the sun starting to go down, creating the warmest colour into the sky.

So many details, so many things, all are taking Louis’ breath away. 

Fuck. He can’t. He needs to stop. He can’t do that, can’t stare, can’t imagine things, he can’t think of Harry anymore. For his own sake, his own health. He keeps repeating that to himself, but he absolutely needs to stay away.

It’s not that hard, he’s done it before. Except they hadn’t spoken much before, they hadn’t got on that well before, and most importantly, they hadn’t fucked before. Now they have, and it’s harder than Louis thought it would be. 

They made progress the past few days, started to hang out more, not as much as the others, but still much more than before. They started having proper conversations, the two of them but also in the group as a whole, and everyone noticed the change. Louis hates to be the one stopping all of that. He knows everyone will blame him, even if he’s only doing that for his health. 

He’s still zoning out on Harry and lost in his thoughts, or internal struggle more like, when he feels a squeeze on his right side. He blinks a few times, coming back to himself only to find Angela’s worried face looking back to him.

“Babe, are you okay?” She asks. He’s lost count of the number of times someone has asked him that today.

“Yeah, just a little tired is all,” he lies, rubbing his eyes to make it more believable. “Stayed in the sun too long, I reckon.” 

“Oh, be careful! Heat strokes are no fun. Drink plenty of water and put a wet cloth on your face if it doesn’t pass, okay?” 

Louis nods. “Yeah. Thanks, love.” 

He figures that’s a great excuse. One that could justify him not feeling too good, lost in his thoughts, and not taking part in conversations. 

He uses it a few times, actually. 

It’s without a doubt that his friends would ask if he was alright, Louis isn’t one to keep quiet for too long, they all know it. So mid-dinner, when Louis hasn’t talked much and didn’t crack a single joke or didn’t make a comment on something that was discussed, they started to notice, and inevitably, they began to ask. 

A “what’s wrong tonight, Lou,” there, another “you okay?” here, even Liam saying they could go home early if Louis wanted. He dismisses all of it, pretends as much as he can, and figures it will pass.

Except as the evening goes on, he realises he should’ve taken that offer to go home. It went gradually: a few minutes after the sun set, wind started to pick up, the gentle breeze a first nice touch to their warm evening, but, progressively, said wind got stronger, and most importantly chillier. 

Louis wasn’t aware of how cold wind could be on a beach near Rome, but when he left the house in the morning, he hadn’t expected wind or cold at all. Naturally, he didn’t bring any jacket or sweater or literally anything to keep him warm, and now he regrets it greatly. 

He pretends everything is fine, something he does often on this trip, now he realises. But as the minutes pass, he gets colder and colder, even hugging his knees doesn’t help. Alcohol doesn’t either, his bottle of beer is half empty, and his pizza not finished, but his stomach can’t fathom any more eating and much less drinking. 

A few moments later, when he’s properly shivering, almost teeth chattering, he decides to ask. No one seems affected like Louis is, but he figures at least one person brought a jacket or something to keep warm. He asks Angela, who’s right beside him, first, but she apologetically answers that no, she didn’t bring anything. He asks Liam, then, and gets the same exact answer.

Reluctantly he goes back to hugging himself, and now even his hands are moving up and down his arms in hopes to warm up a little, but nothing works really. 

Discretion be damned, he’s a little desperate and totally freezing, so he decides to get up and ask the others. He doesn’t bother asking Zayn, because they left together in the morning and he knows he didn’t bring anything, or Harry, for obvious reasons. 

Unfortunately, he gets the same answer and same regretful look every time. 

Of course. As if his day could go any worse. 

Zayn still offers Louis a cuddle to keep him warm and share a little body heat, but Louis declines, putting on a brave face. He goes back to his previous position instead and hopes — read: begs — for the wind to finally stop and to finally go home to slip into a warm shower and then under his sheets.

If Louis wasn’t paying much attention before, now it’s even worse. He doesn’t know what the subject matter of the conversation is, doesn’t talk or acknowledge anything said, too busy trying to warm himself up and forget the bitter, unforgiving wind hitting his skin.

It gets worse every next minute, Louis is at the point where he’s not in foetal position only because of the last ounce of pride in him, but he is indeed making himself as tiny as possible to fight against the wind and keep as much body heat as possible. 

He’s curling up, looking down, now full body covered in goosebumps, and too caught up in his own misery that he doesn’t hear someone reaching out to him, only becomes aware when a hand comes in contact with his shoulder, startling him in the same go.

“Hey, Lou,” Harry comes up from behind. “Put this on,” he offers a sweater. 

Lou. 

It’s the first time Harry calls him that. It’s not the first time Louis gets addressed by this nickname, it’s been the most recurrent one ever since he was a toddler, but coming from Harry’s mouth, it’s different, it’s huge. 

It also brings him memories of the dream from earlier, one he’d like to forget.

It takes him a second too long to realise what Harry said next, too caught up on the new name. Harry noticed and he offered a sweater. He saw Louis freezing and went fetching for his sweater to give it to him.

Another beat passes before Louis speaks out again. 

“I’m alright, don’t worry about me,” he dismisses with a shake of head.

He won’t buy it, Louis very well knows it. 

“Come on, Louis, you’re shivering,” he insists, proving his past point. 

“I’ll manage,” Louis offers a smile. It doesn’t seem to be convincing enough since the alpha doesn’t move, his hand is still mid-air holding his sweater. 

It looks like a very soft and warm sweater. Louis is dying to put it on. He can’t, though, he promised himself he’d stay away and not get in contact with the alpha. Wearing his sweater isn’t staying away, quite the opposite. As soft and comforting as it might be, Louis can’t accept it. 

He first thinks Harry is about to give up and go back to his seat, he thinks he has convinced him to drop it, but of course, today is just his lucky day.

“You were literally asking me for a jacket earlier, Lou,” Liam says with a pointed look, knowing exactly what he’s doing. He must have overheard the conversation or seen Harry move towards Louis.

_ For God’s sake. _

Louis knows, from an outsider, it looks completely ridiculous to decline something he asked others barely minutes before, but Liam doesn’t know why Louis does it, and Louis has got a good reason. He’s not being bratty and bitter or whatever Liam may think. No, he’d accept it if only his health wasn’t at risk. He’d accept it even if Harry and he were still on bad terms and not talking at all. 

“Take it, please, Louis,” Harry insists, begs almost, when it should be Louis the one begging him for it.

There’s no way he can get out of it, is there? 

It’s with a deep sigh that he takes the garment from Harry’s hands. “Thank you,” he croaks out. Harry looks relieved once Louis finally puts it on. He didn’t leave Louis’ space until he saw him wearing it, which is a bit ridiculous, but Louis appreciates the gesture.

He hates to admit it, but Louis instantly feels better. He still stays curled up around his knees for a while, but the sweater does definitely help. It’s made of wool, so it keeps him warm, and on top of that, it’s a very pretty one: full black except for four warm coloured planets and little stars on the front. Louis would absolutely buy it for himself if he saw it in a shop. But that’s not all, the sweater is a little too big on Louis, leaving the sleeves falling past his knuckles, easily creating sweater paws, so Louis makes the best of it to feel his fingers again. 

Surprisingly, Louis warms up very quickly, quicker than he’d thought, and feels much better than he did all afternoon and evening. It’s strange how cosy and safe he immediately becomes. In no time, Louis feels great again and pushes his worries aside to enjoy his night as much as possible. 

The shivers never stop, though, only those Louis feels now aren’t because of the cold. 

***

They leave for Nice, France in the morning. 

It’s already been a long day, despite only being 10 AM. They came back from the beach around midnight, and when turning all the lights on, they realised the mess they created in so little time. After a long day in the sun, they were all exhausted and decided to make a deal to wake up early to clean everything up. At six on the dot, Liam was barging into everyone’s room to wake them up and start packing and cleaning. 

Everything went smoothly, each had different tasks, and all were completed fairly quickly. Only one problem: the cars are packed. Like really packed. Meaning when four of them used to fit in one, now one can barely fit three and the other five are left to take the other car. 

“Maybe shopping wasn’t the best idea,” Liam winces when three bags and a suitcase are still by his side, both boots too full to fit anything more. 

“It’s fine, Li. We didn’t buy that much, it could’ve been worse,” Zayn reassures. “And we were in a hurry today, probably didn’t Tetris it enough. Don’t worry your little head, it’ll be fine! We can squeeze a little more.” 

Everyone agrees with Zayn, and it seems to reassure Liam enough that the alpha finally places the remaining stuff in the backseat, leaving only two free seats. 

“Right, okay! Who’s taking the middle seat then?” Liam asks the unspoken question. 

Everyone gets tense all of a sudden, all dreading to figure out that one part. Obviously, none of them wants to get squeezed in the middle of two without much place for the next seven and a half hours drive. 

His question is unsurprisingly met by a long silence. “Figure it out, guys. We need to leave soon.” 

More dreading silence. Until Niall is brave enough. 

“Lou? You are the most compact of all of us…” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Louis retorts with a glare. 

“That’s a compliment, mind you,” Niall tries to save his arse. “You’ve always been able to fit in tiny places. That’ll just be more comfortable for everyone.” 

How? Comfortable for everyone except for him, more like. 

He’s about to voice his thoughts when someone joins in. “He’s right, Lou,” Zayn says. “Figures Perrie and Olivia can get into the backseat of the packed car and you in the middle of the other one and everyone else should be okay. Done. Easy.”

Then a trail of "okay", "good", and nods erupts from everyone. 

“See, babe,” Zayn says to Liam. “That wasn’t so hard.”

“Right, so I don’t have a fucking say in anything, do I? Wonderful, thanks, guys,” Louis snaps, taking his bag and storming to the other car. He doesn’t bother listening to their answer. 

Everything is tense after that. 

Louis is conscious he overreacted but also too proud to apologise just yet.

Seven hours squeezing into the middle of the backseat, fucking hell. That sucks, he’s allowed to be mad, especially when his opinion wasn’t even considered. He’s also barely gotten any sleep on top of that, so if he wants to be annoyed at everything and everyone, nothing will stop him.

He’s got his sunnies on and earphones plugged into his favourite playlist when the others join him in the car. He’s determined to sulk for the majority of the ride anyway, so he turns on his music and pretends to be too busy with whatever is on his screen. He doesn’t answer any of Liam's tentative apologies. 

He feels the other two join him in the backseat, but, then again, he averts his eyes. While they all squeeze in and try to get comfortable, Louis realises he is blocking the buckles on each side. Obviously. He sighs and scoots over on one side to let one buckle clip in, and then goes the other way for the second one. 

That’s when he spots rings. He feels them brushing on his thigh too. The same rings that had to be taken off so he could get dicked down.

It has to be a fucking joke. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Louis mumbles when he scoots over to let Harry fasten his seat belt.

So first, he’s got to be squeezed in the middle seat for seven and half hours, but he’s also got to be glued to Harry Styles, the guy he’s been trying to stay away from the entire trip. 

This is a curse, it has to be! What did he do to piss off the universe like that? 

And like every time the curse hits, Louis can’t do anything about it without being suspicious or attracting the wrath of all his friends. So once again, he sulks it up and hopes for nothing bad happening. 

He really needs to book a doctor appointment as soon as he gets back, because as the trip goes on, the bad feeling he has had for a while keeps on growing and making him uneasy. For now, though, he’s going to try to forget about all this, and try to enjoy his day and the next few ones as much as he can. 

Unfortunately, the stiffness in his back, the grip of his knuckles on his thighs, and his leg bouncing aren’t a great start. The proximity with the alpha is the only thing Louis can focus on, his brain only noticing how they are entirely touching from mid-thigh to knees, the fabric of Harry’s linen pants constantly brushing Louis’ bare skin revealed by his jorts. It sends shivers to his spine the more he thinks of it. The most annoying thing is that, like always, Louis seems the only one affected. Harry hasn’t spared any glance to Louis’ way and doesn’t look bothered at all. He’s got a book in his hands, Louis can see his eyes moving along the pages. 

He’s noticing too much, he’s caring too much, and he hates that. 

He focuses back onto the road in front of him and on the music in his ears, in hopes for this drive to pass quickly. When he feels his eyelids getting heavy due to the monotonous landscape and his obvious exhaustion from the night before, he figures napping can be a great past time for this long drive. He turns his volume down and closes his eyes.

It doesn’t take him long to fall asleep. 

This isn’t the deepest or best sleep of his life, but it’s a good nap nevertheless. That would have been different, if only he had been on one of the sides, with the window to rest his head on and curl up on his side. Only now, being in the middle seat, he wakes himself up a few times because of the weird position he gets into, most times because of his head lacking support and falling down, startling him awake.

Sometimes it’s the music being a bit too loud that wakes him up, but he indulges Liam, the one putting it a bit loud at times, but Louis knows it’s only to keep him awake and concentrated on the road.

Voices wake him up too. Like right now. His friends are talking, and Louis isn’t asleep deeply enough, so he registered some sounds. He’s right in the middle of the car, which means right in the middle of every conversation. He’s thankful he never had problems falling back asleep, so again, he indulges them, knowing it’s a long, annoying ride for everyone. 

“Someone’s getting comfy over there,” he overhears, not sure from who it comes from. 

“It’s alright, Li,” another one replies. “Cut him some slack.” 

“Alright, alright, don’t get so defensive,” is what he hears last.

He promptly falls back asleep one more time, not giving any more thoughts to what he just heard. 

The next time he wakes up, it’s by a gentle tap on his left shoulder with whispers to his ear. 

“Hey, Lou? Louis?” He deciphers. He doesn’t open his eyes yet. “We’re here.”

“Mhm?” He lets out, confused as to what’s happening, where he is, and who’s talking to him. 

“Come on, sleepyhead,” the voice insists, but there’s a hint of endearment in its tone. 

Louis grumbles some more, eyes still closed, and prefers to nuzzle further into the warmth in front of him. 

Wait what?!

His eyes shoot open, and that’s when he registers the strong sea salt scent. He’s so startled by this suite of events that he doesn’t move, feeling completely petrified. 

“Finally!” Liam’s head pops in by the opposite window, surprising him once more. “Thought you’d never wake up again, sleeping beauty. Is Harry that good of a pillow?” He chuckles. 

Louis is mortified. No, he didn’t sleep on Harry for the whole ride, no, no, no, he repeats, trying to convince himself. This is not real. Someone, please wake him up. He’s still dreaming, he has to be. 

“Harry? Can you come give us a hand with the tents?” Olivia calls from a few steps away. 

The more that is happening, the more Louis understands he’s not dreaming. 

The tents? Already? How long have they been here for? 

“Yeah, coming!” Harry answers, cutting Louis’ trail of thoughts, and that’s when he realises, he still hasn’t moved from Harry’s shoulder. 

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Louis rushes, sitting back up straight. “You should’ve pushed me or woke me!” 

“It’s alright. No harm done,” Harry simply smiles, like it’s nothing. His voice is calm and steady, the total opposite of Louis’. “You looked tired, so I’m glad you were able to catch some sleep.” 

Louis is frozen, both body and mind, he doesn’t know what to reply back. He did sleep well, he does feel much better, but he doesn’t have the courage to tell the alpha. 

Another beat passes, Harry is still in the car, but he gives one more look and smiles at Louis, and then he’s off. 

Why didn’t Harry wake him up and at least push him off? That must have been so uncomfortable to bear the whole ride. 

Why didn’t Louis wake up? For the past few days, he’s been feeling off anytime he was near Harry. A mere touch set off a weird reaction, and he was feeling poorly anytime he was too much in contact with the alpha. But sleeping on said alpha for the most part of a seven-hour ride didn’t set anything off, quite on the contrary, Louis feels better than he had in weeks. Well, except for the huge embarrassment. 

Still, everything feels weird and Louis has so many questions. Despite feeling much better and well-rested, he can’t help but feel anxious. It’s something inside of him, he knows, deep down, that something is not right. He’s convinced of it. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight warning for a scene at the hospital and mentions of needles but nothing graphic.

It turns into a nightmare the second week of their trip.

Looking back, all the signs were there. It was only a matter of time, like a ticking bomb ready to explode. 

They always say you shouldn’t trust all you find on the Internet, especially when health is concerned. They also say when something out of the ordinary happens, you shouldn’t overthink it immediately, but you should at least keep an eye on it if it persists. 

Obviously, Louis did the total opposite.

Today is July 14th. 

It’s the second week of their road trip, they are in France, it’s Bastille day. Louis imagined the French to be a little more excited and hoped to witness celebrations in full swing, but he finds out it’s quite dull for the moment. Not that he’s complaining, it perfectly matches his mood actually, like the weather, all gloomy and grey. 

He woke up with a runny nose and the beginning of a sore throat and rain in his tent because he didn’t close it correctly before falling asleep. As his morning went on, a headache started flourishing as well. Louis is delighted.

He first blames it on their night on the beach two days ago. It’s the logical explanation, he figures he caught a cold, it’s annoying, but it is what it is. Taught him a lesson to bring a spare sweater for the future. That’s what Perrie repeats when she makes him her homemade remedy, a big mug of warm water with lemon and honey. 

It hits him much later that it might not only be a cold. 

The day continues, in between a few raindrops, they still manage to visit the city a little, but packing their stuff back into the car isn’t so fun. They leave in the middle of the afternoon to reach Montpellier three hours later. 

It’s everyone’s least favourite part of the trip. When Liam told them the schedule, they knew it’d be only a quick stay without much time to visit anything, but that was the price to pay for staying a day more in Rome and then a few days in Barcelona and Madrid. It’s also the middle of their trip, so it’s bound to be a tiring step anyway, it’s the sun gone on top of it that’s a bummer. 

After dinner not much is happening, it’s Olivia and Harry’s turn to do the dishes, and everyone else is either glued to their phone or reading a book, so Louis figures he’s going to head to bed early after his shower. 

He’s out as soon as his head hits the pillow. 

Except he wakes up a few hours later. That’s when the nightmare truly begins. 

He’s shivering, full body trembling, and when he checks the time, it’s 1 AM. With a groan, he slips under the covers and curls up around himself in hopes of warming up a little and falling back asleep. The last time he remembers checking his phone before finally giving out it’s 2:45 AM.

A raging migraine wakes him again around four. His head feels like it’s going to explode. Opening his eyes hurts, moving hurts, thinking hurts. No pain killer works. Nothing. 

He manages to fall back asleep from exhaustion, only to be woken up half an hour later because of the rain echoing against his tent. 

It’s now 5:25, he’s cold, sick, and has barely slept four hours. 

He’d join Zayn in his tent for comfort and body heat if only he wasn’t sharing it with Liam. The sun hasn’t even risen yet, Louis doesn’t have the heart to wake anyone up, so he just lies there in silence, hoping for exhaustion and warmth to catch up to him and finally knock him out. 

Nothing comes.

With a groan, he gives up and reluctantly decides to go out to watch the sunrise, wrapped up in his sleeping bag, praying for the fresh air to make the headache go. 

He’s sitting by the table when a hoarse voice startles him. 

“Already up?” 

He must visibly jump, too tired to pay attention and the migraine too loud in his brain for him to focus on anything less.

“Sorry,” the alpha whispers, wincing a bit.

“Yeah,” Louis only answers, hugging himself tighter. 

“Coffee?” He offers. 

Louis nods. “Please,” he adds. He’s secretly over the moon Harry offered, having forgotten that a warm cup of caffeine could help both his freezing and exhaustion. 

Harry hands him the warm cup once he’s done. Louis mumbles a soft thanks and lets Harry sit by Louis’ side with his own, only he’s just in a sweater and joggers, compared to Louis’ cocoon of blanket and sleeping bag. Then it’s quiet again, except for birds waking up and starting chirping.

It takes a while for Louis to warm up completely. Despite the hot beverage, he’s still curled up and trembling a little. Harry mustn’t have noticed, or else Louis knows he’d have lent him a spare blanket or a sweater like he did on the beach. Louis wouldn’t say no this time, but he hasn’t noticed it, and it’s not like Louis is going to ask him. 

When he sees Harry totally unphased, with his sweater’s sleeves rolled up, it’s only confirmation that something is wrong, he shouldn’t be so cold. Or at least he should have warmed up by then. 

If it were anyone else than Harry, by now, Louis would have asked them for a cuddle and share body warmth. Except it is Harry, so Louis can’t. He still glances to the alpha every now and then and wonders what it’d feel like. He remembers that night, how well he slept, and how warm he was when he woke up in Harry’s arm, his full body heat engulfing him whole. 

His eyes widen. That’s when it hits him.

He needs to go away. 

“Ahem,” he clears his throat, already sitting up. “I’m going to go for a walk.”

He doesn’t wait for Harry’s acknowledgement to rush to his tent, throw his sleeping bag inside, and run to the other side of the camp. After a few meters away, he slows down and catches his breath, but his heart is still racing. 

Fucking useless bond. 

It’s been over two weeks since that night, eighteen days to be exact, not that Louis was counting, he only does now, because none of it makes sense. The two weeks are over, he should be fine: he stayed away from the alpha, the bond should be broken by now, he should be fine. 

Except, nothing is fine, and Louis doesn’t know what to do. 

He’d see a doctor if he could, but first, he doesn’t speak French, or even Spanish. Second, it’s the summer holidays, so booking a last-minute appointment seems almost impossible, and third, Louis has had many bad encounters with practitioners. He only swears by one doctor for everything, but she’s back in London. 

Too many buts and annoying things for Louis to consider doing it, but he promises himself to call for an emergency appointment as soon as he gets back in London, or ultimately book one wherever he is if it really deteriorates. But he doesn’t want to think about it. 

So he doesn’t and instead wanders around for a bit longer, joining the camp back around eight. No one asks questions, no one notices Louis’ thankfully gone shivering, and he doesn’t mention his night and early morning, only mentioning the cold he probably caught that night on the beach. He still avoids Harry as much as he can, he pretends everything is fine. 

He’s not though, and everyone notices it. 

The adrenaline of the morning wears off after noon, that’s when he starts feeling the exhaustion and starts getting odd looks. The morning was spent wandering around the city centre, and after eating in a lovely restaurant, they decided to head back to the camp and join the near beach for the afternoon. 

The combination of a full stomach, lack of sleep, and weird sickness get the best of him. He doesn’t mean to fall asleep, only change into swim shorts and grab a towel and a book to head to the beach, but when he sees his pillow, he can’t resist to lie down for a few seconds. Said seconds turn into minutes until he feels a hand shake him awake. 

He reluctantly wakes up and follows Niall who absolutely needed him to come with. Louis didn’t want to raise suspicions, so he followed him, and now he’s on the beach, lying on his towel, trying to concentrate on his book, but failing. 

He’s having a hard time focusing: the letters keep fading together into an ineligible mess, his focus is only drifting more as the minutes pass, he’s lost the number of times he’s read the same things over and over. 

Louis squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them wide in an effort to stay awake. Only he isn’t very subtle about it, and people start to notice. It starts with a “you alright, mate,” which Louis brushes off, then it continues all afternoon and well into the evening as the signs of exhaustion grow more and more. 

It only develops when Louis offers to help make dinner to keep himself occupied and awake. He offers to chop a few veggies and make sandwiches for the drive to Barcelona, starting well concentrated only to get lost in thoughts and almost miss to chop a bit of finger off if it wasn’t for the quick hand stopping his movements. 

“Lou! Be careful!” Is said at the same time as a hand pushes his own from the knife’s direction. 

He jerks quickly away from the touch, dropping the knife from his other hand with a thud in the same go. 

The “Lou” is here again. He still doesn’t know how to feel about it. 

“What’s going on with you today?” Harry asks. “You could’ve gotten really hurt.” He sounds concerned. 

“I’m okay,” Louis lies, bringing his hands back behind his back. “Just got lost in thoughts is all.” 

Harry frowns. “That’s not all, though. You haven’t been like yourself today.” 

“I’m fine, Harry,” he insists, returning to his task. Can’t he just drop it? 

“No, you’re not, Louis,” Harry argues. “Everyone noticed something was wrong,” he adds, grabbing Louis’ wrist to stop the omega who’s still trying to stay out of his grasp, refusing to talk. “Why don’t you just—”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Louis spits, jerking out of Harry’s touch. “Stop pretending like you care all of a sudden! You never did, and we both know you never will. Leave me the fuck me alone, Harry!!” 

Furious, Louis leaves their improvised kitchen table to join his tent and finish packing. He almost misses the flash of hurt on Harry’s face. 

There’s not another sound for a solid five minutes. 

They leave Montpellier around seven. Packing goes quickly, Louis opts for the backseat once again. Zayn is next to him, but Louis hasn’t uttered a word to anyone since that incident. 

He knows everyone overheard his outburst, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. He’s grateful when no one mentions it. The atmosphere feels tense, though, like something is going on, that everyone is aware of, but no one dares to even hint of it. 

The drive to Barcelona lasts another three hours. All day, Louis was eagerly waiting for it, knowing he’d catch up some sleep thanks to the monotonicity of rides that usually knocks him out in no time. 

Today it’s apparently too much to ask. No matter the exhaustion he feels in his whole body, it’s impossible for Louis to fall asleep. He’d thought that closing his eyes would seal the deal, when it didn’t, he tried meditation, then read a few pages still in hopes to fall asleep. 

Nothing works.

He knows why, though. Louis knows he overreacted earlier, he’s aware he was mean and that he should apologise. His mind is going overdrive, his thoughts keep racing to his altercation with Harry, he can’t shut his brain off. He keeps thinking about what he said to Harry and regretting it. As soon as he closes his eyes all he sees is the hurt and incomprehension on Harry’s face. 

They were going well with this whole trying to become friends thing. If only this bloody temporary bond wasn’t in the way. He wouldn’t have been so tired, first of all, and wouldn’t have caused a scene, and he wouldn’t have reacted that way if he wasn’t so scared of contact from the alpha.

But what’s done is done, he knows now is too late to take it back. All he wants right now is to apologise properly and for Harry to forgive him. He’s surprised to see how much it’s affecting him, to the point of not being able to fall asleep, when a month ago, fighting with Harry was a recurring thing, and not once Louis felt as bad as he feels right now. A few times, he regretted things or knew he went too far, but his pride was much bigger and never once he thought of apologising or telling the alpha he didn’t mean it. Now though, no pride or other bullshit in sight, Louis needs to apologise, he needs Harry to know he didn’t mean to overreact and doesn’t believe what he said. 

With a sudden movement but his mind set in stone, Louis grabs his phone. “Could we talk later?” He types in, reading it over too many times for what it is, then finally presses send. 

He watches with a frown and worried eyes the text delivering. He holds his breath when he sees the change from delivered to read and the bubble pops in. He only exhales when a thumbs up appears. 

Thing is, he isn’t exactly subtle about it, and when he looks up from his phone with a slight smile, he notices multiple worried eyes on him. 

It’s Zayn the first one diving in. “You’ve been quiet all day, Lou, are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah, just tired,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “Didn’t sleep well is all,” he tries to reassure them. 

He knows they only pretend to be convinced but don’t actually believe his lies yet. Louis figures it’s the end of the day and hopefully he’ll get some sleep and rest to feel better the next day. He’s sure that when they’ll see him talk and apologise to Harry they’ll be less worried.

He makes an effort to take part in the conversation for the rest of the ride and doesn’t see any more worried glances, so he takes it as a win. He sets his tent up quickly, even gets to shower before he sees Harry again. The second car took a bit longer to get here, and then Louis left Harry time to relax and set his tent in place as well. 

It’s when Louis notices Harry sitting by himself a bit further away that he musters the courage to talk to him, knowing that if he doesn’t do it now, he’ll find excuses to do it later or won’t end up doing it at all. 

The alpha is smiling, looking down at his phone when Louis gets closer. He hasn’t noticed him yet. Louis clears his throat, both to announce himself and because he isn’t sure how his voice sounds like. “Would now be a good time to talk?”

Harry looks up, a bit surprised. “Sure,” he nods, pocketing his phone. 

Louis joins him sitting down on the bench. He’s nervous. It’s not that he doesn’t know where to begin, he very well does, it’s only how the conversation will go that scares him. Harry’s intense and awaiting look ever since Louis sat down doesn’t help with his nerves either. 

It’s with a deep breath that he finally starts. “I’m sorry. Sorry for earlier,” he clears up. “I shouldn’t have said that, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” 

It’s silent for a bit. To Louis it feels like an eternity, and when Harry speaks again, Louis can’t believe what he’s hearing. “I forgive you,” he only says. 

Louis frowns. What? That’s all? He’s at a loss for words, like he predicted, but not for the same reason. “But—”

“Only on one condition,” he cuts off. He looks serious suddenly, hard lines on his forehead and by his eyes appearing. He barely leaves time for Louis to nod. “You tell me what’s wrong.” 

Louis feels like he can breathe again. That’s all? In that short space of time, Louis went through all scenarios possible in his head, imagining much worse things. He’s so relieved to know it’s nothing horrible that he forgets he can’t tell Harry the truth. Not the entire truth, anyway. Certainly not the temporary bond part, which unfortunately is the key reason to what’s happening to him. 

Louis sighs. “Just had a rough night. Couldn’t sleep, barely slept four hours. Couldn’t nap either and I probably caught a cold the other night. I’m just really tired. I wasn’t paying attention earlier, and I snapped at you. It’s no excuse I know but,” Louis trails off. “I didn’t mean to do that and much less say what I said, Harry. That was just in the heat of the moment. I truly don’t believe any of what I said.”

“It’s alright. Thanks for explaining.” 

“It’s not, though,” he cuts him off. “I shouldn’t have said that,” Louis insists. “I’ve been trying, I really have, Harry. I want us to be friends. I want things to get better. I didn’t mean it,” he repeats. He’s feeling quite pathetic in this instant. That’s not exactly how he had planned to apologise, but that’s how he feels, that’s the bit of truth he can tell him. 

“I know you have, Louis,” he sympathises. “I’ve been trying just the same. It’s okay if it takes a little time. We’re both trying, that’s what matters at the end of the day. We’ll get there,” he adds confidently. “I’m sorry you’ve been feeling off. When I saw you this morning, I was surprised because I know you aren’t one to wake up that early. I noticed you weren’t like yourself, but that wasn’t my place to say, and I didn’t know how you’d feel if I pointed it out and reached out to you.” 

“I’m sorry,” Louis repeats for the third time. 

“I know,” Harry smiles. Louis loves his smile, loves when he can see his dimples, especially when the smile is because of him. That’s such a new thing to see. The more he witnesses it, the more Louis wants to be the reason why. The thought doesn’t faze or scare him that much. 

“If you want, I have an extra blanket that I don’t use,” Harry brings Louis back from his daydream. “For the night, that might help with the cold and your sleep. If you want it.” 

“Yeah, that— Yeah, I’d really appreciate that,” Louis says. He doesn’t know if it’s a smart choice to make, but he doesn’t have the heart to deny him, no matter the consequences.

They talk for a few minutes after that, just back and forth, jumping onto one subject after the other, until Louis starts to yawn too frequently and Harry notices it despite Louis’ best attempts at hiding it. 

“Alright, let’s head back and let me give you that blanket before you fall asleep on me again,” Harry teases. It’s playful, but the caring undertone isn’t missed on Louis. 

He doesn’t argue, secretly half glad Harry noticed but also a bit bummed to cut their conversation short. Louis accepts the blanket and bids Harry goodnight with a smile. If things were different, if a temporary bond wasn’t hanging like a sword of Damocles over his head, he’d be tempted to place a light kiss on Harry’s cheek, to thank him for everything, but, well. He only hopes Harry understands how grateful he is. 

When he gets into his tent, he falls asleep immediately. There may be butterflies in his stomach, and a smile on his face as tiredness takes him away. 

***

Waking up the next morning is far away from the past butterflies and hopefulness he felt the night before. Granted, he caught up some sleep, but he would have gladly passed the high fever he wakes up with. 

His head is throbbing, he’s sore everywhere, and any movement hurts. He feels like his throat is on fire as he swallows, and the light attacks his eyes as soon as he opens them. Splendid. 

He hears voices outside and remembers they had planned to visit the city in the morning, but in the state he is in, Louis will have to pass. He’s gutted to miss on visiting Barcelona, as he was really looking for it and felt hopeful he’d feel better today. Feeling too poorly to comprehend what’s happening to him, Louis unlocks his phone and shoots a text to let everyone know he’ll pass on the morning. He doesn’t wait for any response to black out again. 

He wakes up a bit later with no idea how much time has passed between then and now. The only thing Louis knows is that he’s now shivering despite very well knowing how hot it is inside his tent. The headache is still here, the stiffness in his body too. He knows something is not right, knows that he should call someone. He knows he should get up and ask to see a doctor. Except he’s struggling to stay awake, he keeps balancing on the verge of consciousness and sleep. Lights don’t make it easy, the heat doesn’t either. The pain in his head forces his eyes shut, and the exhaustion takes him away. 

The third time he wakes up there’s too much noise. He doesn’t decipher any of it. It’s only a few seconds later that he realises someone is shaking his shoulder. He struggles to open his eyes, when he adjusts to the light and pushes through the throbbing pain in his head, he discerns a very concerned Zayn above him. His vision is fuzzy and unfocused, but he still notices Zayn’s mouth moving, only his ears don’t register the sound. 

Too much is happening at once, too much pain against the will to stay focused and awake. He’s pretty sure he’s close to passing out again when something in the air changes. It doesn’t take him long to realise what, because as soon as Liam steps inside, Louis is attacked by the alpha’s pheromones. He figures Zayn called him for help, pheromones known to be of great help to soothe omegas. 

Except it’s all wrong.

So wrong that Louis feels like he cannot breathe. Liam’s usually calming scent feels oppressive, almost attacking. When Liam approaches him, most likely to hold and calm him down, Louis can’t help but fight against it. Curling around himself, Louis tries to protect himself away from the alpha and his wrong pheromones. He wishes he could just accept the care and give up to let Liam calm him down. Only his inner omega knows it’s not right, he’s fighting it. 

Louis is too overwhelmed and unable to articulate anything. He can’t do anything except curl up around himself and whine in defeat. 

The sound must surprise the alpha, because nothing comes, and time feels paused. Tentatively, Louis uncurls himself and opens his eyes, only to see concern and incomprehension on Liam’s face. 

Louis doesn’t know why or how, but he’s able to concentrate for an instant, and amidst all the panic, Louis finally listens to what’s been screaming at him for days. Instinctively, he knows what to do. 

“H,” he mumbles. It sounds so low to his own ears. He doesn’t even know if he’s said it out loud or only in his head. “H-Harry,” he tries again.

Louis only knows they heard him when they see their reactions, confused and bewildered looks. “Please,” he presses again, begs almost, as another flash of pain goes through his head. 

Even with his eyes closed, facing away from the tent door, he knows when Harry gets here, sea salt scented pheromones instantly filling up the place. Louis barely has time turning around and giving one quick glance at the alpha stepping inside that he directly steps in to hold Louis in his arms. 

Another whine escapes Louis’ lips. 

“Shhhhh, it’s okay,” Harry says, easily moving Louis onto his lap, holding his head against his chest. A few seconds later, Harry moves him on his right, so that Louis’ face is now against his chest. Louis feels like putty in his hold. 

It’s then that Harry starts kissing Louis’ neck and down the juncture following his shoulder, right where Louis’ scent gland is. Little pecks mixed with a lulling hand running up and down Louis’ side. Instantly, calming pheromones soothe Louis’ mind. When his vision used to be foggy and when he couldn’t hear anything but muffled sounds, now everything becomes clear. It feels like some tension has left both the place and his body. 

Louis finally feels safe. Nothing stops, though. He’s still shaking, his entire body hurts, he feels blood rushing in his head. Opening his eyes and talking is still hard. But Louis feels safe now that Harry is there. 

“What’s happening to me?” Louis rasps against Harry’s chest. When he feels him hold him tighter, Louis squeezes back. 

“I don’t know, Lou,” Harry whispers. “But we’re going to the hospital, and we’ll find out and get you back in shape, alright?” Louis masters to nod. “I’ll carry you out to the car and Zayn will drive us.” 

Louis can finally exhale. Despite how he’s feeling right now, and the obvious reveal of the truth to Harry later, Louis is glad he’s here taking care of him and bringing him to a doctor. Even through all the denial and hopes for nothing big to happen, deep down, Louis knew.

He lets himself be carried out bridal style to the backseat of the car. Harry positions the two of them so that Louis is still in his arms, close and touching him. The car is silent except for the GPS route to the nearest hospital, the atmosphere thick with worry. Louis tries to match his breathing with Harry’s to calm himself down and reduce his shivering. It works after a bit, only with Harry’s pheromones and calming strokes, Louis finds himself near slipping out again, only this time, he feels at peace. 

Harry must sense it happening. “Still with me, baby?” He asks in a hushed whisper. Louis hums, but he mustn’t be convincing enough. “I need you awake, Lou. Stay with me, please. Focus on my voice, okay?” 

“‘Kay,” Louis mumbles. So Harry keeps softly whispering sweet nothings to the omega while stroking his hair with one hand and running his fingers down his arms and back with the other. Louis focuses on Harry’s voice to stay awake and even goes as far as grabbing Harry’s hand and moving the grip between their bodies, Harry now anchoring him awake. The alpha doesn’t mind and instead goes back to stroking the back of Louis’ hand with his thumb and squeezes every now and then. 

When they reach the hospital, Zayn is the only one going inside. He comes back with a nurse and a wheelchair a few moments later. Louis is immediately directed to a small room, and the nurse pushes Zayn and Harry out for Louis’ first basic exam. Compared to earlier, Louis feels much better already, even if the headache and overall soreness and exhaustion are still there. Harry and Zayn are allowed back in quickly after and another few minutes pass before a doctor comes in with Louis’ stat results and hopefully a diagnosis. All the while they wait, Harry stays by Louis’ side, on a chair near the bed Louis is on, holding his hand and still stroking his thumb over it. 

When the doctor comes in, she immediately smiles when she notices it. “Reunited with your alpha right on time,” she says instead of a hello.

Louis gets out of Harry’s hold in an instant. Straightening up and clearing his throat, Louis embarrassingly denies the doctor’s assumption. The air becomes tense in the room, and a look of confusion is left on the doctor’s face. 

“Sorry, there must be a misunderstanding,” she frowns. At the same time, the nurse from earlier comes inside again with a questioning look on her face. “We’ll go into more details later, do not worry. Daniella here will set up a catheter for an IV drip. Your blood test shows a huge dehydration and lack of a few essential nutrients in your system, one of the reasons why you’re feeling so weak,” she explains. “It won’t take long, but I need you to relax, Mr Tomlinson.”

Louis nods and holds out his left arm and then looks away to the opposite side of the room, not one to be a fan of needles. Once everything is set in place, Louis tries his best to relax, like he’s been told. The doctor staying in the room with her furrowed brows isn’t of much help. 

“Right,” she starts again. “You being severely dehydrated is one thing, but there’s something else, hence my assumption from earlier.” 

Oh, God. What is it? 

“What is it?” Zayn asks what Louis can’t. 

“You were about to drop, Mr Tomlinson,” she announces. 

Louis’ mouth falls open in shock. 

What? How? 

“Holy shit!!” Harry is the only one reacting out loud. The concern on his face is clear as day. 

“What could have triggered it?”

“Many things,” she calmly says and takes a seat by Louis’ bed. “What your blood test and diagnosis indicate is a big case of depri, which then led to dehydration. The next stage would have been dropping, but thankfully you came in right on time.” When the doctor sees their three faces still filled with concern, she gently clarifies what they are all waiting for. “Not to worry, you’ll be fine. A couple of days rest to regain back your strength and set your body and mind back to normal, and you should be okay.” 

A general sigh echoes in the room. 

“Now we need to figure out what caused you to fall into deprivation, so it doesn’t happen again,” she becomes serious again. 

Shit. Louis must have missed that part, too caught up in his own mind waiting to know how serious his condition was. But now that he registered it, that’s when a mix of confusion and anxiety hits him. 

“How— What, uhm, can cause one to fall into deprivation?” Louis croaks. He knows what can. He only hopes other things can set it off. 

“Usually lack of touch,” she confirms Louis’ thoughts. “There are various forms: it can be a romantic touch as well as completely platonic ones. Omegas need Alphas’ touch, some in different aspects than others, some can live with minimal touch, and others need it frequently. It only isn’t really common for someone to suddenly suffer from deprivation almost to the point of dropping.”

It feels like, with one sentence, Louis’ world is set on fire. 

And like it wasn’t enough, she presses with the burning question. “Are you or have you recently been in a relationship, Mr Tomlinson?” When Louis shakes his head, she frowns but presses again. “Has anything recently changed in your close groups? Family, friends, workplace? No nothing?” Louis denies again. “Any new emotional or physical link?” Negative, again. 

Except that’s when Zayn steps in. “Lou… The bond.” 

It’s like the bomb finally sets off. Instantly, Louis sees the doctor’s questioning eyes moving from his to Zayn’s, and the air feels thick. That’s also what makes Harry react. 

“What bond? What are you talking about?” He asks, confused. 

“Nothing,” Louis says a bit too aggressively. “It’s not that, it’s nothing.”

“Louis, what is it?” The alpha insists. “Zayn, what bond?” He turns to the other omega when he doesn’t get an answer. 

Thankfully, the doctor steps in. “I can ask them to go if that makes you more comfortable,” she says. “It’s important that we find out what’s happening. Deprivation and dropping are serious issues for omegas,” she gently reminds him. “If there’s something I need to know, it’s important that you tell me. I will ask them to leave if that’s the issue here.” 

He sees Zayn nodding at her, but then he turns to look at Louis. “Tell her, Louis. It’s your health at stake here. We’ll go if that’s what you want, but I think you owe him an explanation as well. He’s in it as much as you are.”

Fuck’s sake, he’s right. As much as Louis hates it, he knows Zayn is right. It’s under all their worried and awaiting eyes that Louis explains everything. “It started a few days after we, uhm, after we had sex,” he cringes when he says it. 

He sees the doctor nod and Harry sitting up straighter, with more furrowed brows than before. “I started feeling awful for a few days: big headache, nausea, any alpha’s smell was bothering me. I looked up on the Internet, and I found this thing that’s called a temporary bond,” he explains. “All my symptoms were there, and it said that it could be created after a physical connection with someone. I just made the connection with us,” Louis then turns to Harry. “To break it, they said I needed to avoid any contact with you for two weeks, that’s why I was distant and rude at times. It was only to make sure the bond was fully broken. After the two weeks passed, I thought things were getting better. For a few days, everything was fine, but then, like three days ago, it started getting worse. I couldn’t sleep at night. I was tired and shivering all the time. I thought I’d caught a cold or something, but then this morning I could barely move or open my eyes. I kept blacking out and just felt so weak. When Liam got in to help, I couldn’t bear it, then I asked for you.” 

“That’s why all signs of you getting better were there,” the doctor intervenes. All eyes are focused on her in a second. “Guess I wasn’t so wrong after all,” she adds with a smile. 

“What do you mean?” Harry and Louis say at the same time. Louis quickly notes that the alpha hasn’t reacted to anything he said. It doesn’t reassure him. 

The doctor chuckles. “That’s not only a temporary bond you created, it’s a pretty solid emotional one too,” she clears up. “I assumed you two were in a relationship because only a solid bond can prevent the dropping stage after a deprivation as important as yours. Trying to stay away from him, fighting your instincts and what your omega wanted, is what put you in depri. You refused to accept the touch or any kind of proximity with him, thinking it would help to break the temporary bond, except that bond was already so strong that your omega thought you were refusing his touch.”

“Is this why you rejected Liam when he was trying to help you?” Harry asks. “Your omega rejected him, right?”

“I— I don’t know,” Louis mutters. Louis’ mind is going overdrive. He can’t think or process anything. It’s like bombs dropping one after the other. Deprivation! Close to dropping! Emotional bond! Harry! It’s too much. 

It must show on his face because instead of answering Harry’s questions, the doctor steps in. “I know that’s a lot to take in,” and well, that’s quite the understatement. “And you seem pretty shook up from everything still, so please rest for a bit. Relax and take back some strength,” she advises. “You two as well,” she looks from Zayn to Harry. “Take some fresh air and have a drink or a snack. I know how draining this can be.” 

She waits for Louis to nod to speak again. “I’ll come check on you in a few. Ring the bell if you need anything, alright?” And then she’s off. 

Right on cue, Zayn lets out a big yawn, and Harry stretches his arms and back to relieve some tension. Louis has given up his sitting position to lie on the inclined bed. He closes his eyes for a bit, both allowing himself to rest and digest all the news, but also because he isn’t ready to face Harry. 

“I’ll run down to the café nearby. What do you want?” Zayn asks. Despite his closed eyes, Louis knows it’s directed to Harry, but he would die for caffeine and a hot drink right now. 

“Whatever you’ll have,” Harry rasps. 

“A double is fine?” 

“Yeah, perfect. Thanks, Z.”

“‘S alright! Be right back,” he says before placing a kiss on Louis’ forehead. 

Louis feels like he did this on purpose to let him and Harry talk and figure everything out. It’s after a few moments of complete silence that he gets the confirmation.

“Lou,” Harry sighs. It forces Louis’ eyes open instantly, and the first thing he sees is a sad expression now overcoming the alpha’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped. I could’ve stayed away.” 

He doesn’t know why, but in this instant, hearing that hurts.

He knows it’s ridiculous because a few days ago, that was all he was asking for. For Harry to leave him alone, for the bond to break, and to go back to ignoring the alpha’s entire existence again. But now, that’s just the opposite of what he wants to hear.

“But what if I don’t want you to?” he whispers. 

Silence returns, and as the seconds pass, Louis regrets admitting that, thinking he’s overstepped or that Harry simply doesn’t feel the same and only wishes to stay as far away from him as possible. 

“Then I won’t,” is what Harry answers, though. 

At the same time, his hands return to hold Louis’ catheter free one, stroking thumb and gentle squeezing in tow. A relieved sigh audibly escapes Louis’ lips, then a shy smile appears, and he squeezes back. 

They don’t share another single word until Harry breaks the moment a couple of instants later. “You scared the shit out of me,” he blurts out. For the first time today, Louis looks straight into Harry’s eyes, where he’s met by an earnest green. With the tone of Harry’s voice alone, Louis knew he was serious, but now, looking at Harry’s face and into his eyes, that’s when he realises the alpha is clearly affected. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that,” there’s a scolding undertone, but Louis knows it’s much more than that. “Just promise me you won’t let yourself go in that state ever again,” he pleads. “I can’t see you like this again. Promise me you’ll tell me or anyone before you end up like this again.” 

“Promise,” Louis is quick to answer. He looks into Harry’s eyes, squeezes their joined hands and vows once more. “I promise I won’t, H.” He hopes Harry knows he means it. He hopes Harry is trusting him. 

The kiss he receives on the back of his hand seems like a good indication. 

Zayn gets back a few minutes after, handing Harry his coffee, and finding his seat back to enjoy his. He doesn’t bat an eyelash at their interlocked fingers. 

They’ve been in this room for over an hour when the doctor comes back. A nurse had come in to check Louis’ IV, but she informed him they wanted to make sure he had gotten as many nutrients as possible so it would last a little longer. The doctor proceeds to a last check-up, just in case, then prescribes Louis some meds to take for the next week. 

“You said you were camping earlier, right?” she asks. “I’d advise you not to sleep in tents for the next couple of days to let your body rest and recover.”

Louis nods. “I’ll book a hotel for the next few days then.” It’s far from ideal, though, because they were only supposed to stay in Barcelona for two days, then spend the last three in Madrid. Unfortunately, he knows he doesn’t really have a choice. 

“Consider not staying there alone, just in case,” she adds. Louis doesn’t know if he imagined it, but he’s pretty sure he saw her gaze stay on Harry a second longer, as if insisting and directed to him.

He figures he isn’t so wrong when Harry speaks up next. “Does he need extra contact for a while too?” 

“It isn’t necessary, but it would greatly help and speed his recovery up, yes.”

After a few other questions and binding their goodbyes, the doctor leaves the room, Louis is hooked off his IV, and they quickly find themselves in the car, on their way back to the camp. 

“Go eat something, Lou. I’ll take care of the tents and pack our stuff,” Harry says once he parks the car. 

“Our?” Louis is confused. They haven’t discussed where Louis would stay in Barcelona, but his doctor advised him to stay near the hospital, only Louis thought Zayn would be the one staying with him since Harry didn’t mention it again. Louis had been a little disappointed but understood nevertheless. Harry wouldn’t ruin his holidays to spend three days holed up in a room with Louis. That’s why Harry using plural throws Louis a little off.

“Please tell me you don’t seriously think I’d leave you alone for three days after what just happened?” Harry answers without missing a beat. 

“I just thought I’d go with Zayn,” Louis answers truthfully. 

“Who were you asking for just before nearly dropping? Who did you create an emotional bond with, Louis?” He insists. 

“You, but—” Harry doesn’t let him finish. 

“Right. So, I’m coming, and I’ll stay with you,” he says like his mind is already set in stone. 

He’s already on his way to the tents when Louis speaks again. “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to if you don’t want to, Harry. You didn’t ask for this. I don’t want to force you and ruin your road trip.” 

Harry stops dead in his tracks, only to come back into Louis’ space. He hooks a finger under Louis’ chin, gently forcing eye contact, before he speaks again. “You aren’t forcing me, I want to,” he starts, emphasising on the I. “I couldn’t live with myself if something were to happen to you. I’m in this as much as you are. This temporary or emotional bond, whatever this is,” he trails off. “I’m part of it, and I’ll be here for you. I’ll be there if you want me.” 

Louis doesn’t think about the other sentiments left hanging in this last statement, nor about the one there in the answer he’s about to give. “I want you here,” he confirms with a nod.

“Then I’ll be there,” Harry says, sealing his vow with a kiss in the middle of Louis’ forehead. “Eat something. I’ll join you when I’m done,” he repeats. 

Louis stays frozen in place, trying to realise what just happened. Harry just confirmed he’d stay with Louis for the next three days. Alone. To take care of him. It hasn’t properly sunk in yet. 

Another thing he realises is that Harry seems rather keen on PDA, something Louis wouldn’t have thought. He’s never really paid attention to how Harry used to act with his former boyfriends, but he just didn’t take him for such a tactile person. Not that he considers himself Harry’s boyfriend, obviously. He’s just never seen him, romantically or platonically, demonstrate such affection. And while he isn’t one to refuse or shy away from giving or receiving affection, it does catch him off guard when said affection comes from Harry. 

It does affect him in more ways than one, more than he’d liked to admit. But then again, the context and situation he is in have roles to play too. With a shake of the head, Louis forces himself to ignore the situation and the weird things he’s feeling, knowing damn well it won’t cause him good. He focuses on making himself a sandwich and looking for a place to stay instead. 

He starts finding a few places with two of his main criteria, being cheap, first of all, and having two beds is second. A third one is missing in all of those Louis has found, and unfortunately, it’s arguably the most important criterion: being close to the hospital in case of emergency. And where he can find a place near the hospital, either the price is astronomical, or there’s only one bed. 

He’s tried looking for hotels too, but with such a short notice, the price problem is still the same. So Louis is a little stuck. He doesn’t realise the minutes have passed, until Zayn and Harry join him at the table, claiming they are done packing and ready to go. 

“Only need to find a place to stay,” Louis reminds them. 

“I thought you said you’d look for it while we pack?” Zayn remarks. 

“I have,” Louis sighs. “It’s just impossible to find one that has all three criteria.” Louis slouches down the table, mentally exhausted and discouraged. 

“What are those?” Harry asks.

“Cheap. Close to the hospital. With two beds,” Louis lists. “They all seem to be missing one of those, no matter what I find.” 

“But wait. Louis, you’ll be there for three days,” Zayn exclaims. When he sees Louis’ confused face, he clears up. “Do you really think now is the time to be picky about how many beds there are? Especially if you can’t find somewhere cheap and close to the hospital?” 

“But—” What the fuck Zayn? Of course it’s important!

He hopes his insisting look is enough for Zayn to understand without having to voice it out loud. 

“Come on, Lou.” 

“Guys, calm down,” Harry cuts off, not understanding the silent but apparently heavy conversation between the two best friends. “Can you show me the closest one you find to the hospital?” He asks Louis. “Is it the cheapest?” When he receives a nod, he looks through the phone for a few seconds. “There’s a decent couch in the living room. I’ll take it, and you’ll take the bed,” he decides. 

“You sure?” 

“Yes, it’s only three nights, Lou. It’ll be fine,” Harry confirms. 

“Book it now so we can get going,” Zayn insists, like he knows Louis is capable of debating longer. 

In truth, it does scare him to stay with Harry alone for the next few days. It reassures him, of course, knowing he was the only one able to help earlier, but it still scares him at the same time. He’s never been that close to Harry before. Harry has never been this involved in anything with Louis. It is scary and uncharted territory for both of them, so Louis is allowed to be hesitant and second guess everything. 

Zayn must sense it, and maybe that’s why he’s been pushing Louis to get over it from the beginning. He stays behind Louis while he pays for the reservation, he rushes him to make sure they’ve packed everything. He’s even the one to drive them back to the city before the others come back from their afternoon at the beach, probably knowing Louis, or maybe even Harry, would back away. But not on Zayn’s watch, it seems. 

***

They get there close to five in the evening. The flat is nice, all things considered. The place is clean, there’s a little balcony that wasn’t mentioned before, the couch doesn’t seem too bad, and the bed is a dream. So much that Louis falls asleep a few moments after lying on it. 

Zayn has the decency to come inside and give a hand to empty the car. He doesn’t stay too long after, only makes Louis promise to rest and take care of himself and call every day. When he leaves, the flat immediately becomes silent. Louis stays in the bedroom, pretending to empty his suitcase only because he doesn’t want to face Harry all alone yet, scared of how things will go on from now. 

It seems like the alpha is on the same page, because he stays away from Louis too, making himself busy in the kitchen. The empty kitchen. 

It’s only when Louis leaves the bedroom that he finds himself face to face with Harry in the small lobby in between the two rooms. The silence is thick between them, neither of them saying anything for a bit, only awkwardly standing still, waiting for the other to make the next move.

“I saw a grocery store down the street,” is what Harry cuts the silence with. “I’ll go buy a few things. I won’t be long but call me if you need anything!” 

They haven’t been by themselves for ten minutes that Harry already wants to leave. Louis holds a bitter laugh. “Right. Yeah, good idea. I’ll just, uhm, be here.”

There’s another second of where neither of them moves or says anything, then Harry is off. Louis should have been expecting it, he knows it. But ever since their conversation at the hospital, Louis had been hopeful this could have been the start of something new. Obviously, he was wrong, and that was only Harry being a decent person with some empathy willing to help for a while. Louis couldn’t exactly blame him for anything. He only wishes things were different. 

He realises a little too late that he hasn’t moved from the lobby. Shaking his head, he forces himself to clear his head and not get hung up on this anymore. He moves to the living room and turns the TV on in hopes to find something entertaining to watch, but unfortunately, all the channels are in Spanish, and the Netflix option doesn’t seem to be available. 

With another sigh, he moves to the bedroom instead and grabs his book. He meant to read for a while, only the bed is even more comfortable than it looks, and in no time, he finds himself fighting against his eyelids closing. He surrenders minutes later, oddly lying on top of the covers.

He wakes up to darkness and a thick silence. 

His foggy, half-asleep mind takes a while to register where he is. If only that past day could have just been a nightmare. Except it’s not, and once Louis fully comes back to his senses, he realises that even if the dehydration part got pretty much solved back at the hospital, the bond one isn’t, if his shivering and headache coming back are anything to go by. That’s also when he remembers why he’s in this place, only something seems to be missing. Someone, actually. 

Where has Harry gone? 

Louis frowns. It seems to be night time, and there isn’t a sound in the flat, so where is Harry? Fumbling around the bed to try and find his phone, Louis needs to know what time it is. He can’t have been asleep for that long. When he finally gets his hand on said phone, when going to unlock it, the screen stays dark. Great! 

So, his phone is dead, he can’t know the time, he doesn’t know the flat so he can’t find the lights, and he doesn’t know where Harry is. Fantastic. 

“Harry?” He asks

Silence. 

He calls again, louder this time, only to meet the same reaction. No answer, nothing. 

Right. So, has Harry left? Or did he just not come back? Louis holds a bitter laugh and tries to stay calm, even if the hysterics are only begging to tip over the verge. If only he didn’t experience the same symptoms that led him near a drop, he would be much more rational about it. Obviously, he can’t ask for much, and mere minutes after waking up and realising everything, Louis starts to freak out. 

Why did he leave? Is he gone forever? What is Louis going to do? What if he drops for real this time? 

“Harry?” He asks again, growing desperate. No response. 

He decides to move then. His mind clears for a bit, enough for him to know he needs to do something. Standing up, Louis grabs his phone and blindly tries to find the bag he knows his charger is in. He needs to charge his phone and call Harry or anyone else. He needs help. 

He needs Harry. 

His panic grows as the minutes pass. After a too long fumbling in his belongings, Louis finally finds what he was looking for. Now, it’s a socket he needs to find. Only, sockets are not what you usually pay attention to in a stranger’s flat. So now in the dark, Louis has absolutely no idea where he can find one. 

It’s with one last spark that Louis decides to move to the kitchen, a place he knows will have a socket. It’s blindly that he goes, with his arms stretched out in front of him. He knew it wouldn’t be an easy way, but doing it is even harder than he thought it was going to be: he keeps running into things, hitting his shoulders and knees repeatedly, and he doesn’t think he makes much progress. He’s too stuck up into his own mind and own panic that he doesn’t notice the shuffling in the other part of the room. 

When he feels a grip around his shoulder, he shrieks. 

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, Louis, calm down,” is whispered. 

It takes him a while to indeed calm down and realise who is suddenly hugging him. When he sees who it is, all his built-up tension and worry leave his body, leaving him a sobbing and shaking mess in Harry’s arms. “Shhh, it’s okay, you’re okay,” Harry reassures, squeezing him harder. 

Neither of them speaks for a while, Harry only holding Louis tighter, letting the omega calm down. It’s only after Louis’ breathing goes back to normal and his shaking has stopped that Harry talks again. “What’s wrong? What’s got you like this?”

Louis sucks in a couple of needed breaths before answering. All the while, Harry keeps patiently stroking Louis’ forearms and even crouches down a little to hook his chin on Louis’ shoulder and gently nose at the skin of his neck. The omega only responds by snuggling farther into Harry’s hold and lolling his head to his right to leave Harry access. 

“I— I just thought you left. I woke up, and I didn’t know the time or where you were, and I thought you’d left for the store and didn’t come back,” Louis confesses. His revelation must shock Harry because all of a sudden, his hold loosens. Louis takes it as an opportunity to turn around and face the alpha. He snuggles back in Harry’s chest immediately. “I thought I was here alone and I thought I’d drop because you left.” 

“No, Lou, I’m here. I’ve been here all evening,” Harry quickly answers, bringing Louis in his arms again. “I ran down to the store and came back ten minutes later to see you fast asleep in the bedroom. You seemed exhausted, so I didn’t have the heart to wake you up,” he explains. This must reassure Louis greatly as a relieved sigh escapes his lips. 

There’s not another word uttered for a bit. They stay close in each other’s arms, breathing deeply, calming down. Despite his face being against Harry’s chest, Louis knows Harry is watching him. On top of his concerned and attentive look, Harry keeps running soothing fingers down Louis’ shoulders and sides. 

“Woke up and it was dark and silent, and you weren’t answering when I called you,” Louis mumbles. “Started shivering and feeling awful again but you weren’t here. I was scared I was about to drop.” 

“It’s 3 AM right now, Lou. That’s why it’s dark and silent,” Harry says. Louis immediately feels like there’s a slight teasing hint in Harry’s voice. It’s only confirmed when the alpha takes a small step back to properly look at Louis’ face. “I was only sleeping there and didn’t hear you calling before,” he adds, turning around to let Louis see for himself. 

What Louis sees is a crumpled blanket and a pillow left on the couch. There’s a bottle of water and Harry’s phone on the coffee table. He can even see the shirt and shorts Harry wore today on the floor.

Louis’ eyes widen a little bit when he understands the implications of the last one, only to find Harry looking back at him with a knowing smile. A quick glimpse of Harry in boxers reassures Louis. 

By now, Louis’ breathing has gone back to normal, the hard lines on his face have vanished, leaving place to a more relaxed and content feeling. “Okay, baby?” Harry asks. Louis nods. “Good. You want a snack before going back to bed?” 

Louis shakes his head. “No, just—” Harry ducks his head as if waiting for Louis to continue. “Can you come sleep in the bed next to me? Please?”

“Only if you eat something for me first,” he offers. “Bought some grapes because I know you like them. Eat a few and drink a glass of water. Then we’ll go back to bed. Deal?” 

How did Harry know he likes grapes? How did he remember to buy them? Louis doesn’t move for a few seconds, too shocked and trying to process everything. It’s Harry’s sweet smile, patiently waiting, that brings him back. “Deal. Thank you.” 

It’s close to four in the morning when Louis slips back under the covers. This time he isn’t alone, there are securing arms around his frame, a warm body he can cuddle back in, and legs interlinked with his, grounding him. It’s Harry’s steady breaths that lull him back to sleep. 

***

He feels much better the next day. 

Louis calls the rest of the group back after he learns they called Harry for news the evening before, but Louis was already asleep. They chat for a while, Louis spends most of it reassuring them that he’s feeling better and that everything is good with him and Harry. Half an hour later, they hang up, Louis letting them pursue their morning visit of the hotspots of the city. Harry calls him right after, announcing that breakfast is ready. 

They sit in silence, enjoying their food, until Harry breaks it. “How are you feeling?” he asks in between mouthfuls. 

“Good! Better.” 

Once he’s done Louis excuses himself to have a shower, and when he comes back, he’s pleased to see Harry still there, on the bed with a book on his lap. 

Louis joins him on the other side, ready to scroll down his phone for a while, content to have the alpha by his side for some company. “Lou?” Harry starts the conversation after a few minutes. Louis hums, not yet taking his eyes off the article he’s reading. “Could we talk?” Is what does the trick in no time. 

Louis frowns. That’s never a good thing, he thinks. “Sure,” is what he says.

Harry sits straighter in a criss-cross position. He doesn’t say anything for too long to Louis’ liking, that forces him to mimic Harry’s doing and lock his phone down. “What’s wrong?” He asks to try breaking the ice. 

“Just wanted to talk for a bit,” Harry says. “About us mostly.”

“What about us?” Louis asks, his brows still drawn together in confusion and apprehension. 

“I mean, we’ve never really been on good terms, have we,” Harry says with a dry laugh. 

“I’m aware,” Louis answers with the same tone. “I’m just wondering what has triggered your need to talk about it right now.” 

“Don’t start, Louis,” he sighs. “I’m not trying to stir anything, I just want a chat.” 

“Let’s have it then.”

It’s weird how the atmosphere has changed in so little time, Louis wasn’t expecting that turn of events after these past few days where it seemed like they were doing better. He doesn’t really know what to expect next either. 

“Right so, I feel like we’ve been getting on better these last couple of days,” Harry starts. 

“We have,” Louis carefully agrees. He still doesn’t know what’s the end of this, so excuse his slight wariness. 

“It’s been nice.”

Louis nods again. “Yeah.”

“Hope it can carry on being that way,” he adds.

“I think it can if we both work for it,” is what Louis answers. 

“I just don’t really get why it couldn’t have been like that from the beginning.” 

Louis snorts. “I can name a few things.” 

At that, Harry’s brows furrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, your constant cold shoulder when we first met, then—” 

“Sorry what?” Harry cuts off. “I think you’re switching things up there, Louis. Me giving you the cold shoulder?”

“Uhh, yeah, Harry. You ignored my entire existence for months. The few times you then paid attention to me it was either to disapprove of something I said or to make it clear you didn’t like me,” Louis says, not believing he has to justify himself. “So excuse me if I didn’t make efforts like I’ve been doing recently.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Harry rolls his eyes. 

“And there we go, the arrogant holier than thou attitude is back again.” 

“Excuse me, Louis? I can’t believe you say these things and believe them. Me? Me ignoring you? That’s truly the icing on the cake,” he says bitterly. His voice raising the more he speaks. “Wanna remind me who was it that refused any chat or didn’t invite me to your parties and nights over at yours? Who was it that sided with Zayn for months after I joined the group, making sure I understood how unwanted I was? How come you were friendly with everyone else but me, Louis? You don’t think that may have had a part in how I treated you back? Maybe that ‘cold shoulder’,” Harry says with air quotes, “was only me protecting myself and giving you a taste of your own medicine.” 

“That’s so fucking rich coming from you. Of course the blame is always on me.” Their little chat has taken the turn Louis was expecting it to take without much surprise, only he wasn’t expecting to hear that. 

“You started it, Louis,” Harry argues. “I’m here, just wanting to chat and clear things up, and the first thing you do is refuse to understand my point of view and directly put the blame on me. But when I try to explain to you how I feel, you victimise yourself and make me feel like the bad guy once again.” 

“Well, maybe because you are,” Louis bites back. “Did you even listen to what I said? No, you tried to justify yourself without actually caring about my feelings and maybe see what you did that led to me doing that back to you. It’s always the same,” Louis adds, not yet done now that Harry has riled him up. “Things were doing better, and then you wanna chat. But chat for what? To put the blame on me again and then refuse what I’m telling you? It’s too easy, Harry.” 

“But you aren’t even listening to me, Louis!! How do you want this to work then? If only you were letting me explain and were willing to hear and understand, maybe this would work. You want me to care about your feelings and understand you but you—”

A piercing sound resonates in the room, cutting Harry’s heated speech. It startles them both, too caught up in the intense argument, and it takes them a second to realise where it comes from. 

Marimba and vibrations echo in the now silent room. 

Once he realises his phone is ringing, Louis instinctively goes to shut it out, clearly intending to finish the discussion. Only he wasn’t expecting this caller ID to show up, and he knows better than to hang up. 

Harry rolls his eyes immediately. “Of course,” he says when he sees him pick up.

Louis gets out of the bed and leaves the room. “Hey, mum.” 

***

They don’t talk for the rest of the day. 

Louis stays on the phone with his mum for over forty minutes, telling her what happened and how he’s feeling. He doesn’t talk about what she interrupted. 

For the rest of the afternoon, Louis spends it alone in the living room while Harry stays in the bedroom. Louis is set on not making the first move. If Harry decides to do it, then Louis will go with it and start the conversation again. If he doesn’t though, Louis is ready to give him the silent treatment for the rest of their stay. Well, depending on how he’s feeling, maybe he’ll give in earlier if his state deteriorates, but that’s something out of his hands. 

They only switch rooms around dinner time. When Harry joins the kitchen to make dinner, Louis takes the opportunity to take a shower and fetch all he needs from the bedroom. Once he’s done, he makes a quick run to the kitchen and cooks a quick dinner consisting of two fried egg sandwiches and a bowl full of grapes he brings back to eat in the bedroom. 

Harry stays in the living room and doesn’t spare a glance or a word in Louis’ direction. 

Quickly comes night time, and Louis is still alone. After a quick run to the bathroom, he slips under the covers and turns off the lights. Still no sign of Harry, and even if Louis is still disappointed to see the alpha hasn’t made a move yet, he convinces himself not to give in. He falls asleep a couple of minutes later.

It’s cold that wakes him up in the middle of the night. Particularly, a breeze hitting his calves and sending goosebumps to his middle. Opening his eyes, Louis is able to distinguish lights coming from the street outside, and as he focuses on that, he realises the window is slightly open, letting the cold come inside. 

Louis frowns. He knows he didn’t open it, too aware that he gets cold easily and despite the heat outside, fresh air always comes inside in the middle of the night. That’s also when he notices the sheets supposed to cover his legs are almost gone and slipping behind him. 

It’s something hitting his right leg that makes him jump. He means to turn around to properly see what it was, only to realise there’s another body lying next to him. Louis falls back onto the bed with a relieved sigh. The sudden movement prompts the arms around his waist to squeeze harder. 

A pleased smile makes his way to Louis’ lips. 

He waits a few more moments for Harry’s hold to loosen to get up and close the window. The succession of sudden movements and bed shifting finally wakes the alpha up. 

“What are you doing? What’s wrong?” He croaks out, voice sounding deep and hoarse. 

“Nothing,” Louis whispers, getting back under the covers. “Just got cold and went to close the window.” 

“‘Kay,” he says, immediately taking Louis back into his arms and nuzzling his head in the crook of Louis’ neck. 

Louis lets it happen, even goes as far as snuggling back into the embrace. 

It’s half-past nine when he wakes up again. Arms are no longer holding him, but when he sits upright, his calf still brushes against another. Now that he’s more conscious and clear-headed, that’s when he realises what happened and its implications.

“Morning.” 

“Morning,” Louis says it back while stretching out. True to his promise, Louis isn’t the one starting the conversation, wasn’t the one in the middle of the night either. 

Harry is sitting against the headboard, with the sheets covering his lap, leaving his naked chest on display. The book he had been reading yesterday is between his hands. This feels oddly domestic and, surprisingly, Louis doesn’t think he’d mind if it became his reality. 

He excuses himself to go to the bathroom, and then he stops by the kitchen to make himself breakfast. He’s pouring the water into his mug when Harry joins him, still shirtless, and starts on his coffee.

“Bacon and eggs?” He asks as he opens the fridge. 

“You don’t have to, Harry.” It’s the third time he offers to cook, Louis doesn’t want him to feel like he has to.

“I’m making them for me anyway so if you want some I can double.”

Louis nods. “Yeah, I’d love some. Thank you,” he agrees. 

They eat together in silence, then go on their business, only to find themselves together again late morning. The air isn’t tense, and the conversation flows easily, but Louis knows it’s only a matter of time before Harry brings the conversation back to the table. 

He gets the confirmation minutes later. 

“Are we gonna ignore it all day?” Harry asks. His tone is neutral for now, if not a little frustrated. 

Louis shrugs. “You decided to ignore it yesterday,” he says. “You know why I had to take this call. After that, we could’ve resumed, but you chose to ignore me.”

“As if—,” he stops and breathes heavily, as if to not let his anger spill. “You know what, I truly don’t want to fight so I’ll take the blame if that means you’re now willing to talk and sort it out with me.” 

“Okay,” is what Louis answers. He sits straighter, back now fully rested on the couch’s back pillows. 

“Okay,” Harry echoes. “Seeing how the conversation went, I think we both have our reasons and different versions of what happened.”

“Obviously. As I was trying to say yesterday, your constant cold shoulder is what led me to give you the same back. Before you start,” Louis warns with a pointed finger, “I would have explained further yesterday, but you didn’t give me the chance to. So anyway, I didn’t invite you over to mine and started ignoring you for a reason. When you joined the group, you were friendly and charming with everyone,” Louis explains. “You were this amazing friend that Liam had wanted to introduce to the group for weeks. He told us nothing but good things about you. I was excited to meet you, and as the weeks went on, I found out that we had so many interests in common. The problem is that for whatever reason, you kept ignoring me, and if you didn’t, I was only getting half-arsed replies. At first, I thought it was normal: you just got into a big group, it’s natural to have easier affiliations or like some people better. Only this went on for  _ months _ , and I still got the same treatment,” he pauses for a bit, thankful to see Harry still listening and not trying to cut him off. “I’m only human, Harry! It got too much for me to pretend everything was fine. Never mind that you were also totally my type,” he adds with a humourless joke. “Cold shoulder from my friend's new friend - and my crush - ignoring me, what a combo!! Anyway, I took it personally, and my pride got involved, so I decided to ignore you back. Zayn only sided with me because he knew all that.” 

There’s a frown on Harry’s face once Louis finishes his monologue. It’s silent for a while, and Louis starts fidgeting. Why did I admit the crush part, he thinks, internally face-palming. 

“Can I break it?” Harry asks out of nowhere.

“What are you talking about?” Louis frowns. 

“Your rule.” 

“What? Which rule?”

Louis is more than confused at this point. Harry totally changed the conversation to something he doesn’t understand, and he’s not meeting Louis’ questioning gaze. 

“I’m sorry. I can’t anymore,” Harry only says after seconds of total silence. He abruptly gets up and starts pacing in the room. Instinctively, Louis gets up too. 

Hurt is what he feels first. He thought they were doing better. Except for yesterday’s chat, he thought Harry was starting to genuinely like him. They had gotten closer. They even slept in the same bed last night, and Louis woke up in Harry’s arms. The second day in a row.

Is Louis admitting his stupid attraction to Harry what sets him off? He knew he shouldn’t have said anything. 

Harry can’t. He can’t be around Louis anymore after barely two days alone. He knew he didn’t want to be there. Even if Harry had insisted, Louis knew he’d regret it. 

Confusion comes next. Louis believed they were going somewhere. He’d felt it too, how his inner omega was much calmer, at peace, safe even. And he felt Harry becoming gentler with him, more comforting, much less distant and cold. The air had clearly changed between them. 

Maybe he was just good at faking everything.

Third, it’s heartbreak. Maybe not the real one, but something close that definitely hurt. Louis would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t someway, even the littlest bit, on his way to fall in love with the alpha and no matter how deep he was, the rejection still hurt more than he could ever imagine.

Fourth is Harry’s plump and soft lips pressing on his. Then it’s the cold metal of rings and the gentle touch of Harry’s hand cradling his face.

Louis’ eyes widen in surprise and his heart skips a beat. Then, like second nature, Louis relaxes into the kiss when he meets Harry’s warmth. He kisses back, closed lips responding to Harry’s own. His eyelids start getting heavier and close in relief. Their lips separate briefly, only to meet again with more intent, now gliding over each other gently and smoothly. 

Harry is the one to break the kiss. His lips are gone, but his hand cradling Louis’ face stays, moving up to trace his cheekbone gently. Louis doesn’t open his eyes, not ready to face reality just yet. It’s through half-shut lids that Louis remembers the rule Harry mentioned, the stupid rule Louis set out that night. 

Like Harry can read his mind, he clears up, voice not above a whisper, with the pad of his fingers still brushing along Louis’ face. “I know you said no kissing on the mouth, but I had to. I had to let you know how I felt. How much I’ve been wanting to do that for days.” 

This revelation forces Louis’ eyes open. He can’t quite believe what the alpha is telling him. He needs to know he’s not dreaming. 

It’s the most open expression and most genuine smile that Louis is met with. He surges to kiss Harry back without hesitation. It’s another kind of kiss, but one just as magical. Of course, Harry meets his fervour in an instant, without any second thought. 

This time, Louis’ arms curl around Harry’s waist, bringing the alpha closer. Their lips match, meeting peck after peck, and both can’t stop smiling. At the realisation of what’s happening, Louis breaks into a huge grin mid-kiss. He tries to meet Harry’s lips again, only the alpha seems to mimic Louis’ actions, and the kiss evolves quickly into a mess of grins and giggles and teeth clinking together. 

Harry takes this as an opportunity to angle Louis’ face up with his hand and place little pecks everywhere on Louis’ face, from his cheeks to his chin, nose, forehead, and crinkles by his eyes when Louis’ giggles get louder. 

“C’mere,” is what Harry says when he lets go of Louis’ face and opens his arms wide instead. Louis doesn’t waste any second to enter Harry’s arms and bury his face into his neck. They stand still for a while, only breathing each other in and rubbing fingers on each other’s skin every now and then. “Had no idea you had a crush on me,” Harry mumbles into Louis’ hair a few moments later. 

“Is this truly all you got from my speech?” Louis jokes. 

“No, but that’s a nice surprise to see it reciprocated,” he replies, sounding pleased. “And that’ll allow me to tell you my version of things. The real one.” 

At this, Louis raises his head to look at Harry’s face. There’s indeed a smile there, even his dimples appear despite being a closed-lip one. Louis is now intrigued and eager to know Harry’s side of things. The alpha must sense it and guides them both to sit back on the couch.

There’s a proximity that wasn’t here before. When they sit on the couch, they are side by side, knees touching, and Louis watches Harry’s face intently, patiently waiting for him to start. 

“I did. Listen to what you said, I mean. I’m sorry you felt this way, and now I understand why.” Louis nods at him to continue when he sees the alpha hesitate. “When I joined the group, I had just gotten out of a relationship. I won’t go into details because it’s not one worth mentioning again, but basically, when I met you, I instantly got a crush. You were this bubbly and funny guy Liam had told me about, but seeing you in real life was another deal because you were so fucking pretty and captivating. I couldn’t take my eyes off you that night and couldn’t stop thinking about you for days,” Harry reveals. “Except I told you, I recently ended a relationship, and even though I was already infatuated with you after one night, I didn’t want it to be something for me to get over that past relationship and treat you like some kind of pill or distraction to forget my bad break up. So I decided to ignore it for a while, I worked on myself and gave myself time to heal and forget about it, and then when I was doing better, when I knew I was ready to treat you right and fall in love again, that was when you started ignoring me.”

“Oh, H,” Louis says regretfully. 

“Now that I know the whole story with your point of view, I realise that’s my fault. I shouldn’t have ignored you like that, it only sent the wrong message. I understand why you were ignoring me. I think I would have done the same if someone had joined my group and was ignoring me and distancing himself from me like I was doing then.” 

Louis has been shaking his head for the last seconds of Harry’s speech, but he lets him finish before talking again and telling him how wrong he is and how harsh he’s being on himself. “No, no, no. None of this is your fault, babe.” Louis reaches over Harry’s lap to take Harry’s right hand in his. He squeezes, hoping the alpha can feel Louis’ honesty and understanding. “I would have done the same if I were in your place. This was just a big misunderstanding, but now we know, okay. You know how I feel, and I’m sure you’ve shown me how you feel.” 

“And about that… I need to tell you something,” Harry starts. “It’s nothing bad, promise! I just want to be honest with you, and because it concerns you directly, you need to know.” 

Reassured, Louis nods to Harry to continue. 

“I’ve always been infatuated with you. Literally was from the get-go, even if we constantly fought and weren’t nice to each other,” he says. “Obviously I think at some point it became less intense because all the bickering and the not-so-nice things overpowered everything. But deep down I knew it was still there.” He squeezes Louis’ hand at this, maybe a way to reassure the omega. “That night changed everything. All of a sudden, I was back to square one, like when I first met you, like nothing happened between us. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I wanted to be with you all the time. I wanted to take care of you, and I wanted you to be mine.”

Louis’ mouth slightly opens in shock. 

“The bond, Lou, I think I felt it too,” he reveals. “Not like you, not with symptoms, but with this need I had to be close to you, to touch you. When you explained it back at the hospital, it all made sense. I think it explains why I was constantly drawn to you and wanted to touch and hold you.” 

At this revelation, Louis is given no other choice but to embrace the alpha and kiss him deeply. It’s Louis holding Harry’s face this time, pressing his lips on Harry’s, hoping to convey how much this means to him. Harry meets him back, kissing just as hard. 

***

Later that day, after they cleared up all the confusion and finally cleaned their hands, Harry suggests an idea. 

“How do you feel about getting out of here for a bit?” He asks. 

With sparkling eyes and curious smile, Louis answers. “What do you have in mind?”

“Nothing crazy, just a walk around the neighbourhood.”

Louis nods. “Yeah, I’m in.”

It’s hot outside, something they weren’t really prepared for, with the AC on all day for the last two, but fresh air is definitely welcomed. They stroll around the neighbourhood, in big and smaller streets, even reach the beach a few minutes later and walk along the coastline. 

It’s nice. The conversation flows easily between them, jumping from one subject to the other, everything is good, except maybe that Louis feels a little tense, like he’s holding back. Harry doesn’t seem to notice, so he figures it’s only in his mind. 

The thing is, now that Louis has admitted how he felt, and now that he knows how Harry feels, there’s no need for denial anymore. Louis is attracted to Harry, extremely so. And the thing about walking side by side with someone you like, is that you instinctively want to get closer. 

Now that they are on the same wavelength, he can’t help it. 

Only he isn’t sure if Harry is on board with displays of affection just yet. 

Because Louis doesn’t want to ruin the moment by some awkwardness, he tries to keep his hands to himself and keep some distance from the alpha. But Louis is only human and can’t control everything. It’s moments later that their hands accidentally brush. 

Louis is quick to remove his hand, a little embarrassed because he doesn’t want to come off as the needy, overly touchy guy barely hours after their talk.

It’s Harry who makes the move though. 

Inside Louis knows that he’s probably realised what Louis was doing and only needed this last confirmation to take the matter in his own hands and firmly hold Louis’ hand in his. 

It ends up being the most natural thing ever, no word is said between them, not even a look is shared, nothing but a squeeze maybe to reassure the omega that it is okay. Louis doesn’t know and won’t ask, too content to say anything. 

They stroll hand in hand for a while more, leaving the coastline to re-enter the city centre when Harry spots an ice cream parlour and directly informs Louis. The latter agrees immediately, in much need for a cold and sugary treat. 

They wait in line, taking time to look at the different flavours, even though Louis already knows what he’s going to get. “What will you have?” He asks Harry once he looks like he’s decided. 

“Mint chocolate chip,” he says. 

“No way!!” Louis exclaims.

Harry rolls his eyes. “I don’t need your judgement, okay.”

“No, no, no, Haz. I’m far from judging. That’s actually what I’m having too,” he says, which loosens the frown that appeared in between Harry’s brows. “It’s just that I don’t see many people loving it and get judged easily whenever I order it.” 

“Really?” Harry looks positively beaming at the discovery. “Already a distinctive common interest. That’s cute,” he says. 

“You’re cute,” Louis says in a burst of confidence. He even goes as far as rising to his tiptoes and placing a quick peck to Harry’s lips. The alpha reciprocates it instantly, leaving them both in a mess of grins and shy giggles. 

Afternoon then turns into evening, clock ticking away. With Harry, time seems to pass quickly already. Louis enjoys every second of it. If anyone told past Louis that he could enjoy Harry’s presence, let alone that they’d be casually kissing after admitting their mutual crush, he would have laughed in their face. 

But that’s actually what’s happening: they’ve stayed glued together all day, they were out for roughly three hours, and when they came back, they only separated when each had to take a shower. 

They order takeaway, too lazy to cook anything, and eat on the couch in front of an English channel they managed to find. With a full stomach, they cuddle up on the couch watching a romantic comedy. Only this doesn’t last long, since the plot is boring, and Harry starts to kiss down Louis’ left arm, and well, Louis wants more. 

Swiftly, he turns around to face the alpha, who seems to easily understand what Louis is after, and soon enough, their lips meet again. 

Kissing Harry is nice, really nice. It’s easy and sweet, and it makes Louis safe. He loves kissing Harry, and it’s only the first day he allows himself to, they haven’t explored all kinds of kissing yet. Louis very well plans on changing that. 

For now, it starts innocently, small, gentle presses of lips and shy smiles. But it evolves quickly as pecks start turning into more. When Harry’s hand had been sitting on the curve of his waist, it now moves to cradle the omega’s face, deepening the kiss at the same time. When their lips used to only smack against each other, now they overlap, with Harry’s lips teasingly capturing Louis’ bottom lip. When Louis’ heartbeat was steady and calm, now it’s rushing a little with want.

Confident in how Louis thinks this is going, he decides to move from the sofa to sit on Harry’s lap instead. Their lips never part, his eyes are still shut, but Harry’s anchoring hands are present, both on his face and around his waist. Now with his thighs parting on either side of the alpha, Louis finds it easier to deepen the kiss. 

It’s Harry’s small groan that makes Louis lose patience and pushes him to part Harry’s lips with his tongue. Not much more is needed for the alpha to catch on and intertwine his with Louis’. They are now fully making out on the couch, barely stopping to take their breaths. 

A little bite here, a little teasing there, Louis is in heaven, but he wants more. He’s warm, Harry’s body and mouth are too, and Louis  _ needs _ more. 

He makes it clear with rolls of hips and moving his hand up Harry’s hair, tugging lightly, as he deepens the kiss more and more. It seems to do the trick in no time, as Harry seems to miss a breath and lets out a deep groan when Louis tugs at the short hair at the back of his head. 

Louis is now fully grinding on the alpha’s lap. He’s only waiting for Harry to make the next move. 

It’s far from the one Louis was expecting. 

“Easy, baby,” is mumbled onto his lips as Harry slows their kissing down. 

It takes a second to register in Louis’ brain. He breaks the kiss entirely. “You don’t—” he says, not brave enough to finish the sentence out loud. 

“No, Louis, I do!” Harry rushes to say. He probably understood quickly with the hurt on Louis’ face appearing clear as day. “I want you more than anything. But I want you in good health first,” he says, now running fingers down Louis’ sides. “It’s only been three days since we found out what was happening to you and I just don’t want to rush it before we know it’s safe.” 

Oh. 

“Want you very much. Especially right now,” he pauses to kiss Louis once. “But don’t want to see you hurting like that ever again.” 

It’s Louis’ turn to kiss Harry. “Okay,” he says before placing another peck. “Sorry. You’re right. I didn’t think of that.” Harry smiles sympathetically at him, still running circles with his thumb around his waist. “I have a specialised doctor back in London, I’ll book an appointment as soon as we get back,” he explains. 

“You do that,” Harry nods. “Will you tell me the results?” he asks, then smiles when Louis nods in his turn. “Okay, good. Can I go back to my make-out session now?” 

It takes Louis by surprise a little, but he laughs nevertheless. “You can,” he mumbles against Harry’s lips before letting Harry’s tongue part his. 

As Harry promised, they resume their making out like nothing happened, only Louis slows down on the grinding and focuses on enjoying the moment and Harry’s mouth. They don’t separate for another ten minutes. 

“You know,” Harry breaks the kiss a while after. “That night at the club I wanted you so much,” he confesses. “So much that I might have lied a little,” he says innocently, pitching his thumb and forefinger in front of Louis’ face.

“I knew it!” Louis gasps. 

“Wait! Let me explain!”

“Go on then.”

“Right, so you know I had a crush on you and all that.” Louis nods and Harry continues. “You looked sinful that night, absolutely unreal,” he says like it’s no big deal, like Louis’ cheeks won’t redden immediately.

“My rut ended just a few days before, right. So seeing you looking like that in the crowd in the middle of gross and sweaty alphas may have set something not really nice in me and I may have been a little jealous when I had no right to be.” 

“I actually thought you were judging me for trying to pull,” Louis reveals. 

“No, no, never,” Harry sternly states. “I was only jealous you were looking for someone who wasn’t me. And for the record, that first guy you were with did give me weird vibes,” he adds. “I wasn’t lying then.”

“So it’s Leo you didn’t like?” Louis cheekily says.

Harry closes his eyes shut and groans. It’s not one filled with pleasure and want this time. “Anyway, I was trying to tell you that I wanted you so much that night that I literally got hard in the middle of a public space,” he snorts. “I had a really good night, and I plan on having even better ones once you fully recover.” 

Despite the joking and teasing undertones, Louis is touched by Harry’s revelation. By everything Harry confessed today. He’s also grateful to finally see honesty in their relationship, something Louis had no idea he was craving for. 

Even if their relationship journey has been one full of bumps along the way, Louis hopes for it to evolve into something else, into more. For now, these past few days alone with Harry, despite the fight and ups and downs, they’ve been pleasant and enjoyable, in more ways than one. Louis yearns for these to continue and maybe become common occurrence or even a routine. 

He knows it won’t be a fairy tale, but for now, Louis thinks it’s worth the while. 

***

Louis wakes up after one of the best sleeps in his life — no he’s not exaggerating, if only a little. 

He wakes up warm, but not annoyingly so: there’s a welcome little breeze hitting his skin, birds are chirping outside. He hasn’t opened his eyes yet, deciding to enjoy the moment a bit more. 

He lets out a deep, satisfied sigh. That’s when the bed shifts.

“Will I finally break free?” Is croaked out from above him. 

Louis is confused. He slowly blinks his eyes open only to meet skin and light freckles of what he realises is a shoulder blade. 

There’s now a frown in between his brows as he tries to understand the situation. 

“Or maybe not… You’re going to hold me hostage all day.”

_ Hold _ ?

Louis’ eyes widen when he realises what Harry is saying. It suddenly all makes sense, reassuring and mortifying Louis at the same time. 

Yes, because Louis is holding Harry. Not in a simple hold, no, in a tight grip one. His right arm is stretched and gripping Harry’s pec and his left one clutching onto his waist. His grip is so tight, no wonder Harry is talking about escaping, now that he thinks of it. 

“I’m so sorry,” Louis blurts out, still mortified. He doesn’t, however, release his hold one bit. 

“It’s okay,” Harry chuckles. “Just wanted to make you breakfast and bring it in bed but you weren’t really a fan of letting me go, so I enjoyed the cuddle. You’re a good cuddler by the way.” 

“I hadn’t realised I was doing it. I’m really sorry.” It’s then that he finally loosens his arms. 

Truth is, he isn’t really sorry, at least for that. It’s only that he doesn’t know if Harry is comfortable with it. Louis has always loved cuddling, absolutely adores being held and holding people. It’s the best of both worlds, Louis always says, but he knows others don’t feel the same way, having experienced it first hand with alphas with too big egos. Right now, he doesn’t know where Harry stands. 

“It’s okay, you just won’t experience my breakfast in bed. That’s your loss,” Harry says turning around to face Louis. 

“You’re not mad?” Louis blurts out when Harry focuses the conversation on breakfast and not on Louis jetpacking him. 

Harry frowns. “Why would I be? I was only joking about being captured, you know that, right?” 

“About me holding you, I mean.” 

“What? Again, why would I be?” 

“You don’t mind being the little spoon?” 

“No, I don’t. Like at all,” he adds with a light chuckle. “Only on one condition, though! I can still hold you too.” 

It’s Louis’ turn to laugh now, relieved to know Harry doesn’t mind. “Okay, deal.” 

Harry grins and waits no time to pull Louis onto his lips. “Good morning,” he mumbles in between kisses. 

“Good morning,” Louis echoes in the middle of two pecks. 

“How are you feeling? It’s been three days,” Harry says, voice turning into a caring and gentle tone. 

“Good, slept very well,” Louis says as Harry brushes the fringe out of Louis’ eyes with gentle fingers. 

“Glad to hear that. When’s your appointment at the hospital again?” 

“Eleven thirty.” 

“Better get going if you still want breakfast, then,” Harry says, jumping off the bed. 

Louis stays behind a couple of seconds more, giggling then sighing happily, wondering how on earth did he miss out on Harry for so long. 

***

Morning turns into afternoon in a rush. Barcelona turns into Madrid, and two people turn into seven. 

Louis’ appointment at the hospital goes quickly, and the results are promising. After another blood test, they find out that his stats are back to normal and after a quick check-in with the doctor, Louis is dismissed. 

It gives them plenty of time to pack their suitcases up and clean around the flat before calling a taxi to the train station. The ride is then three hours long, so they have, again, plenty of time for themselves. 

Unfortunately, it also gives Louis plenty of time to think, and now his head is rushing with not so nice thoughts. He knows Harry noticed and is trying to understand. For once, Louis doesn’t want to deal with this alone. 

“What should we tell the others?”

Harry hums. “Tell them what?” 

“About us. Should we tell them?” 

Louis sees it on Harry’s face when he finally understands what was going on inside his head. “We can explain everything. Or we can keep it a secret for now and tell them a bit later. Your choice, baby.” 

“You’d be okay with that?” Louis can’t quite believe it. His worries and insecurities gone flying as soon as Harry says anything. 

“With not telling them?” He asks, and Louis nods. “Yeah, for now. Until things get better and clearer. You’ve been through a lot these past few days, so giving you a calm and relaxing end of holidays seems only fair. We can tell them around a pint later, once we figure everything out.” 

Louis is positively beaming. It’s like everything he wishes comes true these days. It’s so easy with Harry. 

So they make a deal to keep it a secret for a while to everyone, including Zayn. When they join the others, they still mention getting along and learning stuff about one another, but they don’t say a word about sleeping together, admitting their mutual crush, and much less anything about sharing kisses. 

The rest of the evening passes in a blur, in between catching up with everyone and reassuring all of them, each multiple times, that he is okay, Louis is bone tired and ready to sleep a few minutes after midnight. 

It feels weird going to sleep alone, Louis thinks now that he’s lying in the dark. It’s been barely three days, and he’s already used to the alpha’s presence. Surprisingly, it doesn’t scare him as much as he thought it would. 

When he’s seconds away from drifting away, Louis hears the zipper of his tent open and someone getting inside. He doesn’t need to open his eyes to know who it is. He only turns around to bury his face into the body lying next to him. Arms secure around his sides, he feels lips kissing his forehead, and then he’s out. 

When he wakes up the next morning, he’s alone, but the bedsheets on the right side are still creased and warm, a faint scent of sea salt is still lingering on the pillow. 

Today is their last day. The plan is to visit the city, before going back to the airport at five. 

Going back to some sort of routine is comforting, seeing familiar faces too, but, most importantly, Louis is relieved to not have to overthink about every single of his movements and avoid Harry. He hadn’t noticed before, but avoiding the alpha and trying to come up with plans to do so exhausted him to no end. 

Now even if they’re hiding some bits of their relationship, it’s not comparable in the slightest and Louis can finally fully enjoy his day. 

They spend the morning in groups, meeting again a few times in between, then stop at a restaurant around 2 PM. The food is delicious, and once they’re done, they all agree a nap is needed to relieve their full stomach. They are set on finding a park to spend the rest of the afternoon at. 

While the rest of them pay for their meals, Perrie and Liam stay aside to find the nearest park. Louis is set on joining them to see what they came up with when he notices a blue cap hanging on the ear of a chair. It’s the cap Harry brought at the vintage shop back in Rome. 

Louis doesn’t think before grabbing it and going to the alpha to give him back. “Haz! Your cap!” 

Harry turns around, stopping his conversation with Niall. His confused frown turns directly into a grateful smile. “Thanks, baby,” he says, innocently moving to give Louis a kiss on the cheek. 

Louis beams for a second, before his eyes set on Niall’s baffled expression. 

Oh, no. 

Louis is pretty sure his face mirrors Niall’s expression right now. 

“What’s going on guys?” Zayn asks. 

“I don’t know, ask those two,” Niall answers pointing at Harry and Louis. 

Instantly, Zayn’s gaze is on them, and like it wasn’t enough, the rest of the group joins behind, all asking what’s going on in hushed whispers. 

Harry must sense Louis’ sudden unease, so he’s the one to break the silence. “Louis and I had time to talk and we, uhm, found out a few things. Mainly that our hatred was founded on misunderstanding and misconceptions.”

He’s playing it safe, and Louis is grateful, but in the moment, he feels bad lying to his friends, and when fears and insecurities were eating up at him back in the train, now all he wants is to claim it all loud.

“We also found out we had a mutual crush amongst that hatred,” he reveals. “So we decided to work on that and see how it goes.”

Gasps and wide eyes are what Louis receives in answer. Then he feels Harry’s hand curling around his waist in comfort. When Louis looks back at him, the alpha is beaming, dimples fully out to Louis’ biggest pleasure.

“Finally!! God, you two were insufferable,” Zayn breaks the tension as a common laugh erupts.

“Aww, look at you two,” Angela says, “You look adorable already!” 

Other compliments and jokes follow, and Louis can’t quite believe it. The reaction is amazing, and that’s when he realises that all his past worries were ridiculous. With a group of friends like his, he had no reason to doubt their acceptance and support. 

They resume their afternoon after Louis promises to explain what happened in that flat. They hang out in the park until four and then come back to pack everything and join the airport later. 

The plane ride goes without a hitch. They arrive in London in the early evening. After saying goodbye to everyone and agreeing to a pub night in three weeks time, they all part ways. 

Harry and Louis stay a little longer, though, talking about nothing and everything. They both know it’s only small talk to stay together a little longer. At last, they decide it’s time to go. There’s no promise, when they leave, no mention of staying in contact or seeing each other again soon. They both know they will, though.

“Text me when you get home,” Harry says before placing a sweet kiss on Louis’ lips. Louis nods and kisses him back immediately. “And call me once you’ve seen your doctor, okay?” 

“Okay,” Louis replies, sealing his promise with another kiss. 


	4. Chapter 4

Falling in love had been easy. 

When he got home and life started getting back to normal, Louis had no idea what to expect. He had no idea how things would evolve, if they did, or if it was only a holiday fling of sorts. They hadn’t talked about it, didn’t talk about what it’d change, about what they were.

Life went on, everything came back to normal. Routine reappeared quickly, and that was that. 

Louis had kept his promise and did book an appointment quickly. When he told his doctor what happened, she scolded him to not have called sooner, and when he explained the following events, her face only grew with concern. 

“That sure looks like a strong emotional bond followed by a big case of deprivation. You were lucky that alpha was there or else I don’t want to imagine what could have happened to you,” she said. “You know that emotional bonds are quite special and incredibly difficult to form? Also falling that far into touch deprivation is incredibly rare?” 

At this discovery, Louis only gasped, unable to form any sort of answer. 

“What was your relationship with that alpha, Louis?”

“It’s a long story,” Louis started with a chuckle. He knows he can trust his doctor, though, so he tried his best to sum it up. “We are in the same group of friends. I think he joined like three years ago. I was attracted to him from the beginning, but because of some misunderstandings we started not liking each other. To the point that we weren’t talking and constantly pretended the other wasn’t part of the group.” 

“What changed then?” She prompted. 

“We had sex. That was a one time thing,” he clarifies. “I had a bad day, and it had been after my heat, and he told me it was after his rut, so I figured it was convenient to ask and he said yes. A couple of days after that it’s when I started feeling the symptoms.” 

“That’s surprising! I told you emotional bonds were rare, yes?” She didn’t wait for Louis’ affirmation to continue. “Well, that’s because they are incredibly hard to form and sometimes take years to form with long-time bonded couples. You must understand then that an emotional bond created only after one instance of contact is pretty unheard of.” 

“We found out later that we had a mutual crush on each other, so I only assumed that was the cause,” Louis frowned. 

“Oh, no, my love. The mutual attraction is only superficial and factual. There’s a much deeper bond between you two,” she said. “You mentioned your heat and his rut being roughly around the same time, didn’t you?”

“Uhm, yes, I think so,” Louis said unsure. He never really paid attention to that detail before.

“Then you mentioned feeling better any time you touched or were close to him when you were actively trying to stay away from him, right?” 

Louis nodded again. That’s a discovery he found on his own yesterday when he was trying to note down everything that happened following that night to not forget anything when coming in today. He went day by day, trying to remember how he was feeling, if something out of the ordinary happened. During the days of the trip, Louis made sure to note when he was avoiding Harry and when they were close. 

First, he noted an improvement after their night in Milan on the fourth day. That was after Louis sat on Harry’s lap for that dare. Then, he started feeling even better during the first two days of staying in Rome. He wasn’t trying to avoid Harry then. The third day of their stay is when something changed. He remembers, the day before, trying to avoid Harry when he decided to join him shopping. It’s the day after, when on the beach that he had this strange dream and reacted weirdly to Harry’s touch. The day after he felt fine. That night before was also when he wore Harry’s sweater. Finally, sleeping halfway on Harry for hours did him wonders in the moment, but after his research, Louis figures this must have been a huge set off for his deprivation, going from a full touch for hours to deprivation for the next few days when Louis was freaking out about the bond not being broken. 

“I’m confident it’s not only a bond you created through sexual activity or an emotional one through your mutual attraction.”

“You don’t?” Louis asked, not following everything. 

“No, I think it’s something much stronger or else you wouldn’t have had those symptoms or reactions,” she explained. “I think it’s deeper than that, all the signs are there. I think your souls created that bond, Louis,” she finally reveals. 

“Souls?” Louis repeated, not believing what he’s hearing. 

She nodded. “Let me explain. You’re familiar with the concept of soulmates, right? There’s this idea that soulmates form an exclusive lifelong bond, the strongest one anyone can achieve with someone else,” she explained. “There’s definitely a strong enough bond with the two of you. Your common attraction and infatuation is the first sign. I assume there are common interests between the two of you, correct?” Louis nodded, and she continued. “Then there’s the sexual attraction which is what I think triggered your souls and caused the bond to bloom. Your heat and rut already syncing is also a huge sign, then your intolerance to smells, especially alphas’ when he’s not in contact with you for long, your touch deprivation, you refusing other alpha’s touch.” 

Louis was left speechless. When he came for this appointment, he never thought he’d find out he has a soulmate. A real soulmate. Harry is his soulmate. 

“All the signs are there, Louis.” 

***

When Louis got out of his appointment, he decided to keep that discovery to himself, at least for now. 

He did call Harry to let him know the diagnosis like he promised, only didn’t mention that part. It’s too soon he thinks, he doesn’t want to scare the alpha just yet. 

The days passed, it’s the tenth day he hasn’t seen Harry. Yes, he’s counting, sue him. Things are good, he’s feeling fine, work is alright, Harry and him are texting every now and then, and that’s it. Louis is happy with that, it’s already far different from how it used to be. But secretly Louis wants more, he wants it how it was back in the flat, just the two of them. 

He won’t make any move for it, though.

He  gets into work that morning a bit tired but nothing out of the ordinary. He’s got lots of paperwork to fill, so maybe that doesn’t help much. With the summer holidays still going, educational counselling is put on hold, so his time is divided in between sorting files, filling out administrative paperwork, and seeing two or three couples per day for their sessions. It isn’t Louis’ favourite season, but he knows he must go through that to begin September well. 

He’s just finished a first session with a new couple and hasn’t one planned for another hour, so he decides to take a break. It’s 3:45 PM, perfect time for tea. The break and common room are empty when he gets here. He’s mid-pouring his water into his cup when the bell rings twice, a code that delivery people use to announce themselves. 

He’s about to make his way to the door when he sees Angela leaving her office to go for it herself, bless her. 

“Ohhhh,” Louis hears her saying. She sounds pleased and surprised at the same time. “Thanks. Have a good one!” Louis deciphers, then he hears the door closing. 

He hears the click of her heels on the floor so he knows she’s getting close and Louis wants to gossip. “Hey, babe, come over here,” he calls when he sees her passing the door. 

She immediately stops in her tracks, and her face lights up when she sees him. “Lou!! Exactly who I was looking for,” she beams.

There’s a huge bouquet of flowers in her hands. 

Louis frowns. “What’s up? Who’s this for?” 

“You, babe!” She exclaims. “It just got delivered. Only checked the card to see who it was for. I didn’t peek more. Promise.”

Louis’ eyes widen, and his mouth opens on a gasp.  _ What _ ?

With slightly shaky hands and still not quite believing it, Louis grabs the bouquet from Angela’s hands. It’s massive. The flowers are big and tall, there are lots of different colours, mainly white, pink, and yellow. There’s a little white card tucked in between two flowers, in silver-coloured letters, it says  _ Louis _ .

Louis never thought he’d ever say that in his life, but there are butterflies in his stomach. 

He opens the letter with careful fingers, holding his breath. 

_ “Hope these find you in good state — a couple of lilies I hand-picked myself.  _

_ Found myself missing you too much, so this is my way of inviting you to dinner on Friday.  _

_ Hope to see you there,  _

_ Love, H” _

Louis’ heart grows ten sizes, and a smile makes his way across his face. He doesn’t hesitate before breathing deeply into the bouquet, smelling the beautiful flowers. 

“What does it say then? Who’s this from?” Angela brings him back to earth. She looks ecstatic. 

“It’s from Harry,” Louis reveals. “He’s inviting me to dinner.”

“Is it a date?” She shrieks. 

“Shhh,” Louis shushes her. “I don’t know, it doesn’t say. Just dinner on Friday.”

“Let me see,” she excitedly grabs the card from Louis’ hand. She reads it over quickly then shares her conclusion. “It’s totally a date!”

Blush rises to Louis’ cheek, and a pleased smile and crinkles by his eyes appear once more. 

“I don’t know, I’ll call him tonight, and we’ll see.” 

The conversation doesn’t end there, and Louis ends up taking a longer break than he had planned. He’ll have to stay a bit longer after hours to complete the rest of the paperwork, but he isn’t even mad. 

He takes a quick selfie with the flowers when he’s alone in his office and sends it to Harry. “Thank you for the flowers. I’ll be there Friday. Call you later xxx,” he adds in the caption. 

***

It ends up being a date. The first of many that followed. 

Dinner that Friday is the first time they see each other in two weeks. Louis is understandably a little nervous, but more excited to see Harry in person again. 

When he gets there, Harry is waiting for him outside the restaurant. He’s on his phone and mustn’t have seen Louis arrive yet. “Hey,” Louis announces himself. 

Harry pockets his phone in seconds. “Hey, hi!” He says, dimples already out. 

He’s missed him.

They stand awkwardly next to each other for a moment, not sure what to do. Are they back to kissing casually? Are they not? What are they? 

Louis is about to open his mouth when Harry cuts him off. “Come here,” he says with a shake of head. They move together at the same time, itching to get closer. Harry’s hand is back cradling Louis’ face in an instant. “Hi,” he repeats before pressing his lips against Louis’. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too,” Louis mumbles, kissing back. A smile overcomes his face soon after, forcing them to break the kiss. 

Dinner is great, and conversation flows easily. They spend two hours talking about everything and nothing, and Louis enjoys every second of it. Once they’re done, Harry offers to pay. Louis doesn’t oppose, only because he knows he’s going to ask Harry for another date and will pay next time.

It ends up being a week later on a Sunday afternoon. 

Louis had originally planned another dinner on Friday night but had forgotten about pub night with the others. He told Harry over the phone, and they both agreed they shouldn’t miss on that and to see each other on Sunday instead. 

That’s what they do. It’s in the middle of the afternoon, and Louis is in a coffee shop waiting for Harry to arrive. When he spots him, it’s because of the bouquet of flowers he’s holding. Blush rises to his cheeks again, a common occurrence it seems as soon as flowers are involved. Louis has always loved flowers, maybe fate did him good when it decided to pair him up with a florist. 

They spend the rest of their day in a park, chilling and cuddling under the sun. It’s the best date Louis has ever had. 

From then, they decide to make it a weekly occurrence. 

Harry chooses what they do one week, and Louis does the next. It goes from museum dates to coffee shop dates, to dates at the cinema or classic ones at their favourite restaurants. And every time, the next one is just as good as all the others before.

They get to spend time with each other, get time to learn about each other, see what they’ve been missing out on all these years. 

The dynamic in their group of friends also changes for the better. Louis and Harry now interact, joke around together, and the group is united again. Every single one of them is eternally grateful to see this change. Well, when Harry and Louis pair up together during game nights and become the most competitive team of all time, maybe they wished it were a little different. 

***

A month and a half has passed when Harry invites Louis over at his place for their date. 

It’s a Friday night, and they’re both off that weekend, so Harry offered to cook dinner and invited Louis to stay over for the weekend. Louis accepted immediately. 

He packed a bag in the morning with a few changes and toiletries, so when he gets off work around six, he goes straight to Harry’s. It’s a short tube ride and a few minutes walk to get there. 

Harry lives on the third floor in a great flat, quite spacious but homely. Louis feels safe as soon as he steps inside. 

“Hi, babe,” Louis says once Harry opens the door, directly rising on his tiptoes to leave a few pecks on Harry’s lips. The alpha is quick to cradle his face and guide him back on his heels. 

“Hey,” he mumbles against Louis’ lips in between kisses. “Had a good day?” 

“Good, yeah. Excited for this weekend,” he smiles. “How was yours?” Louis asks, knowing Harry had the day off. 

“Slept in,” he brags. “Watched telly for a bit then cleaned the place and cooked for you.”

“You did? Show me around then! Give me a tour!”

Harry grins, then he moves around Louis to stand behind the omega and wraps his arms around his frame. He also bends down a little to fit his head in the crook of Louis’ neck. “So this is the living room,” he starts, waving his hand around. He then leads Louis a little further inside. “That’s the kitchen,” he shows on his left. There’s something in the oven, Louis notes, and it already smells delicious from here. “Then we have the bathroom here,” he quickly leads Louis down a corridor. “And the bedroom is here!” 

It’s a very warm-looking bedroom with cream coloured sheets on a big bed. There’s a huge closet and an old mirror in a corner, then a few different shelves. There are plants and flowers here and there, and what definitely is the biggest vinyl collection Louis has ever seen. 

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about your vinyl collection, it’s huge!!” Louis exclaims. 

Harry chuckles into Louis’ neck and detaches himself from the omega. “I told you I was collecting them. Anyway, you can leave your bag here, nothing is happening in this room until you eat all my lasagna.”

“You made lasagna?” Louis gapes at him. 

“Yeah. Hope you like that. I figured it was a safe bet.”

Louis can’t help but kiss him again. “It’s perfect! It’s my favourite!” 

“Good,” Harry grins. “Mine’s a killer.”

And it turns out he wasn’t showing off because his lasagna is indeed delicious, almost evening up with the one from his beloved Italian restaurant. Once they’re done, they finish their glasses of wine on the couch, feet tangled in one another. Like always, conversation flows easily, jumping from one topic to another, but at some point, tension starts to fill the room, the good kind. After a short silence, Louis decides to take matters in his own hands and moves to sit on Harry’s lap. 

The alpha doesn’t miss a second to link his arms around Louis. “Hi,” he says, pulling Louis into a kiss. As usual with them, it starts tentative and slow, with closed-mouth kisses, and progressively evolves into opened-mouth ones, and when Harry’s right hand moves up to Louis’ face, it’s when tongues start getting involved. 

The last straw is when Louis decides to bite Harry’s bottom lip and starts moving his hips. “Bedroom?” Harry groans against Louis’ mouth. The omega eagerly nods, and in no time, Harry brings his hand back around Louis’ middle and lifts him up as he stands. Louis instinctively wraps his legs around the alpha and lets himself be carried to the bedroom. 

From there, everything becomes more intense. Now lying down with Harry on top of him, it moves to the next step, allowing them both to deepen their kiss and let their bodies feel one another. Louis’ arms are circled around Harry’s neck, always seeking to bring the alpha closer, and Harry’s ones keep trailing along Louis’ sides. They both grow desperate in no time. 

“Off,” Louis mumbles when he catches his breath in between kisses. The alpha reacts immediately, reaching back to get his shirt off. Louis helps him push the fabric off when it reaches the back of his head. Of course, Harry returns the favour, and now both are shirtless, back to kissing again. 

Progressively, as the kisses get deeper, their hips start to meet, dry-humping against one another, hardening cocks brushing every so often. Louis’ hands move to unbuckle Harry’s belt while the latter unfastens Louis’ buttons and fly. As the seconds pass, their movements become incredibly desperate, their kisses rushed and full of want. 

“Want you,” Louis groans. Both are now in their boxers, bulges prominent, ragged breaths echoing in the otherwise silent room.

It’s with one last bite that Harry detaches his lips from Louis’ and directs them towards the omega’s chest instead. He gets a reaction out of Louis the moment his lips graze a nipple: a sudden gasp turning into a long moan as Harry’s tongue starts toying with the nub. 

“Forgot how much you liked that,” Harry teases when his fingers replace his lips, thumb and forefinger now pulling and pinching Louis’ nipple. His lips easily find the other one, and Harry gives it the same treatment, rolling his tongue around it, driving Louis wild. 

The omega quickly becomes a whimpery and shaky mess, squirming around and hands spontaneously going to Harry’s hair. When it becomes too much, the alpha takes matters in his own hands, letting go of both nipples and reaching for Louis’ hands instead, pinning his wrists above his head with one hand, stopping his hips from moving with the other. “Stay still for me, baby,” Harry gently scolds. “Let me play with your nips for a bit. Let me make you feel good, yeah?” 

Louis only nods. The firm, yet gentle, squeeze on his pinned wrists Harry leaves before returning his attention to Louis’ chest sends a clear message. He wants to be good. He wants to make his alpha happy. 

He tries his hardest to stay still and lets himself enjoy Harry’s smart and teasing tongue, his plump soothing lips, and unforgiving fingers. Moans and hisses and whines escape his lips, his head is thrown back in pleasure, breath hitching, and slick running down, ruining his briefs. 

At some point, Harry leaves Louis’ chest and comes back to his face, checking in how the omega is feeling and kissing him for a while. There’s already sweat gathering on Louis’ forehead, so Harry gently brushes the hair out, tenderly tracing the sides of Louis’ face. 

Louis pulls him back into a kiss, which Harry’s breaks moments after, a light trail of saliva still connecting them. “Can I take those off?” Harry asks, motioning to Louis’ underwear. 

Louis nods. “Yeah. Please.” 

Harry grins and eagerly goes to Louis’ middle. When he’s face to face with Louis’ bulge, he smirks. “These are soaked, baby,” he says, touching the damp material with the pad of his fingers. Next, he takes Louis’ cock in his hand and starts stroking lightly through the fabric. Right on cue, Louis’ breath hitches again. Quickly, Harry gets the boxers off: letting Louis’ cock spring free and the strong lavender scent fill up the room. “God, you’re so wet already. Gonna make you feel so good,” he promises as he starts going back to stroke Louis’ cock again.

“So good,” Louis slurs, bucking his hips to meet back Harry’s strokes. “Do I— do I keep my hands there?” Louis asks in between two groans. 

Harry looks up in wonder and sees Louis, wrists still pinned above his head, glossy, bright blue eyes full of lust looking back to him. “You can. Look so pretty like this,” he gushes. If Louis was already flushed before, now his whole body feels on fire. 

Without any warning, Harry takes Louis’ cock in his mouth, tongue swirling around the slit, then bobbing up and down the shaft. Louis misses a breath. He closes his eyes for an instant, to process what’s currently happening and feel every second of it. When he opens them again, he’s met by Harry’s dark, lustful look focused on him and his sinful lips kissing the crown of his cock. It lasts a few more moments before Louis asks Harry to come back up. 

The alpha stops immediately, maybe scared that something went wrong or that Louis isn’t feeling well or not enjoying it. He must not expect it when Louis pulls him into a heated open-mouthed kiss. He does not expect it when Louis pushes himself up in a half-sitting position, using the pillows behind for support. 

“Can I?” Louis echoes Harry’s question from earlier. When Harry nods in return, Louis doesn’t waste any time pulling the fabric down and putting his lips around Harry’s hard cock. 

His right hand is quick to meet his lips on Harry’s length, covering what his mouth can’t do. He gives attention to Harry’s tip first, alternating between sucking around the head, swirling his tongue around the crown and slit, and giving sloppy kisses down the length. He soon moves to Harry’s balls, gently biting and playing with them while Harry brings his hands in Louis’ hair, tugging at strands and heavily groaning from above. 

When he thinks he’s warmed up and teased Harry enough, Louis repositions himself and takes a couple of deep breaths before taking the alpha’s prick in his mouth. Harry’s hands are back in his hair in seconds, moans coming in almost instantly. Once Louis is secure in his skills, bobbing up and down nicely, he decides to look up to Harry for the first time. When eye contact is made, Louis is met by a dark, intense look coming from the alpha. From this angle, Harry looks  _ huge _ with his knees on either side of Louis’ body, caging him in more ways than one. 

Louis craves more. 

“Fuck my mouth,” Louis says when he pulls Harry’s cock out. “Please.” 

“Fuck,” Harry groans. Louis is pretty sure he just saw his cock twitch. “You’re serious?” He looks even more turned on if it were possible, eyes full of lust and surprise. 

Louis quickly nods. “Please,” he begs. “I’ll pinch your leg for you to pull out if it’s too much.” 

There’s a moment of pause when Harry looks at Louis, then suddenly, he’s surging down to kiss him, tongue meeting immediately and breathing each other in. “I can’t believe I missed out on you for so long,” he says, inches away from Louis’ face, as both his palms cradle Louis’ face like it’s the most precious thing. 

Louis means to reciprocate, he really does, but Harry is already positioning himself back up, so Louis mirrors his actions, sitting back comfortably against the pillows, and takes much needed deep breaths in. 

Harry, bless him, starts slow. First, he drags the tip of his cock on Louis’ lips, coating them in precome. “Gorgeous,” he rasps out. Next, he slaps it against them until Louis opens his mouth and takes the prick in. The pace is manageable, Harry only thrusts mid-length and still gives time for Louis to get used to it. 

When Harry feels Louis’ throat loosen around him, he warns the omega. “I’m going to start, baby, okay?” He says, still gently trusting. “At any time, for any reason, if you want to stop, pinch my thigh.”

The omega doesn’t respond, but he blinks twice, and Harry sees him trying to nod. He waits for another few seconds, time for him to tenderly run his hand on Louis’ cheekbone and feel his cock in through the omega’s cheek. 

Louis’ eyes close when Harry’s thrusts get stronger. He hasn’t changed the pace just yet, only how deep he thrusts in, wanting to feel the way Louis’ mouth works around him. It’s one or two minutes later, when Louis’ eyes open again, that Harry picks up the pace with a loud groan. The sight of baby blue, glassy eyes looking up and blinking at him sealing the deal.

Louis takes it like a champ, lets Harry use him as he wishes, and enjoys every second of it, his own cock fattening up and dripping precome as the minutes pass. He does gag and choke a few times, but for each of those Harry is mindful and either slows the pace for Louis to get better or directly pulls out to let him catch his breath. 

In the end, it’s Harry who pulls out. Louis pouts when he does, shiny bottom lip slightly sticking out. “I’m gonna come if I don’t stop, darling,” he says, reaching for Louis’ eyes to wash away the tears that have gathered there. As much as Louis enjoyed it, he wants Harry to come inside him. 

That’s why, once his breathing is back to normal, and after he’s wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, Louis decides to link his arms around Harry’s neck and roll them over instead. 

Louis is now on top, and like he can’t help himself, he goes back to kissing the alpha. If only he had known how much he was missing out when he set that stupid no-kissing-on-the-mouth rule. But lucky him, now he can make up for it. 

They haven’t even reached the fucking part, and yet, Louis can feel how drastically different this is from the first time they had sex. When then it was rushed, now it’s relaxed and effortless. When Louis tried his hardest to not show any emotion, now he lets himself go completely, fully trusting Harry.

It wasn’t intentional to wait that long to sleep together again. It just felt right to do it tonight. Nothing was planned, they hadn’t talked about it. It just happened. It could’ve happened before, but they hadn’t felt the need. Tonight though, they were both on the same page, and Louis wants to remember this moment. 

Louis wants it to last, he wants to remember it all weekend and into the next week. He knows he can trust Harry to take care of that, but he wants to see it on him too. That’s why he breaks their kiss and goes down Harry’s neck instead. He leaves sloppy, open-mouthed ones first, then he starts focusing in one place, nibbling and biting at the tender skin, then soothing it with his tongue. He repeats that in three different places on Harry’s neck, while the alpha’s hands trail down Louis’ body. From gently tracing the curve of his waist, to moving up Louis’ back to his shoulder blades. When the omega bites a sensitive spot on Harry’s neck, his hands fly to the curve of Louis’ back, just above his arse. It doesn’t last long for said hands to move to cup Louis’ arse-cheeks. 

Something shifts again. Louis doesn’t leave Harry’s neck, but he starts to roll his hips against Harry’s, looking for friction. The alpha catches up quickly on Louis’ plan and chooses to indulge him as he starts kneading the skin of Louis’ arse, then moving a finger to Louis’ wet entrance, only grazing a bit. 

It makes Louis react instantly, though. A long hiss escapes his lips, forcing him to leave Harry’s neck and look into his eyes instead. “Will you fuck me?” Louis slurs. 

Harry laughs. “Patience, patience,” he says, using both hands to spread Louis’ cheeks apart. 

“Come on, H! Want you,” he begs. Harry is pretty sure Louis' rim is clenching around air with want. The sudden smell of lavender filling up the place is only confirming Harry’s thoughts.

“Okay,” he says, hands leaving Louis’ arse to get to his middle to roll them over. “Lie on your tummy for me, baby.” 

Louis complies easily, bringing his arms up and crossing them to rest his head on them. The alpha starts from the nape of Louis’ neck, then moves to his shoulders, then his spine, all the way down to the small of his back, leaving a trail of pecks, bringing shivers on Louis’ golden skin. 

When he moves to Louis’ arse, he continues with kisses, a few on each arse-cheek, until Louis starts spreading his legs and rutting lightly against the sheets from all the stimulation and the promise of what’s to come. He hisses a breath when Harry spreads his cheeks again. 

From then, Louis’ hole is on display, all for Harry to see and please.

Louis was expecting it, but Harry gives no warning when he licks from Louis’ taint all the way up to his rim in one go. He lets out a filthy moan at the intrusion. It only encourages Harry to spread his arse further and dive back in. He gives the same lap a few times, then once Louis loosens up, he dives his tongue inside. He’s rewarded with a high-pitched whine in seconds. 

“Taste so good, angel,” he coos. 

“Feels so good,” Louis mumbles in between two moans. “More, please, more,” he begs when Harry dives back in. The alpha happily obliges, happy to turn Louis into a whiny, squirming mess. He even joins a finger alongside his tongue, Louis’ reaction is immediate, back arching up, arse pushing back mixed with a trail of curses escaping his lips. “Fuck, fuck, more, please, babe,  _ more _ .”

“I’ve got you, Lou,” Harry murmurs. “Gonna give you my fingers now. Prep you up to fill you up so good.” He gets a needy whine and a fervid nod in answer. 

His mouth doesn’t leave Louis’ hole just yet, but his forefinger starts exploring alongside it. When Harry feels the stretch starting to loosen, he adds his pointer and gently starts scissoring them. He’s mindful to ignore Louis’ prostate for now, though. 

Harry’s tongue is now long gone, and after what feels like hours, the alpha adds a third finger with the others. Louis is now properly desperately rutting against the sheets, has been for a minute or two, and when Harry  _ finally _ brushes Louis’ sweet spot, the omega lets out his longest and loudest moan so far. 

“H, I’m gonna come if you don’t stop,” Louis whimpers, hips rocking against Harry’s fingers, cock brushing against the sheets. “Fuck me, please,” he begs again. 

Louis’ desperate moans and begging seems to do the trick because Harry removes his fingers and comes up behind Louis, pushing his hard cock onto Louis’ arse. “How do you want it?” He slurs in Louis’ ear.

“Wanna see you,” he answers immediately. “Wan-wanna ride you.” 

“Whatever you want, baby,” Harry says before placing a quick kiss at the base of Louis’ nape.

The alpha detaches himself from Louis entirely, probably to get a condom, Louis thinks. It gives him time to suck in much needed deep breaths and turn back around on his back. When he does so, Harry gets back on the bed at the same time and opens a condom. Louis watches with lust as Harry gives himself a few tugs and puts it on. Louis is still breathless and still incredibly turned on. 

He can’t believe the universe decided to bless him with this man. 

“Ready, baby?” Harry asks, breaking Louis’ trance

Louis nods and gives Harry his place to lie down on the bed. The alpha then motions to Louis to come straddle him when he’s ready. Louis doesn’t need it to be repeated twice. 

Feeling Harry’s cock on his hole again, Louis remembers how big the alpha is, he lets out a shudder just thinking of it. He knows, though, that right now, he’s controlling the pace. So he starts slow, only pushing the tip of his cock inside, getting used to the feeling. Harry just watches, he’s got his hands on either side of Louis’ waist, gently drawing circles on the skin, soothing Louis’ nerves. 

The next step is when Louis sinks down on Harry length. Again, he does it progressively, has to take a few deep breaths to get it all in. They both sigh loudly when Louis’ arse meets Harry’s hips. 

“Set your pace, baby,” Harry says. “You’re doing so well. You feel so good.” 

“Yeah?" Louis breathes. “It burns so good.” 

When Louis starts bouncing up and down, the moans come back, first hushed then getting louder and needier as he turns breathless. Harry doesn’t meet Louis’ bounces just yet, but his hands tighten on Louis’ sides, moans and groans growing stronger. 

Now that he’s getting used to the stretch and Harry inside of him, Louis builds up a rhythm, loving the feeling of the alpha’s cock and his hands grounding him. It lasts a few more minutes before Louis finds the spot he was so desperately looking for. 

He finds it thanks to Harry’s help, the alpha feeling Louis getting desperate and deciding to meet Louis’ moves with his thrusts, the shove and Louis’ bounce reaching Louis’ prostate. Louis reacts immediately, loud, pleased whines echoing in the room. It only encourages Harry to trust harder. 

The constant contact with his prostate sends shockwaves to Louis’ stomach, he feels like he’s on fire. With Harry’s relentless thrusts and the continual stimulation, Louis starts losing his previous rhythm, rendering him completely desperate to find relief. 

“H-Harry, more,” he moans. “More. Please fuck me,” he begs, breaths hiccuping. 

The alpha is quick to understand the urgency. He moves his hands from Louis’ waist to his lower back and flips them over in one swift move. Louis is now on his back on the bed, and Harry repositions himself and immediately thrusts back in. 

The angle changes everything. Harry’s thrusts hit harder and  _ exactly _ right where Louis needs. His pace is unforgiving, Harry’s hips are pounding against his skin, the sound echoing with Louis’ sweet moans and the curses leaving his mouth. Louis’ entire body feels on fire, Harry’s fingers are digging in his flesh, he feels his climax approaching. Only one thing is missing. 

“Kiss me,” Louis begs. “Kiss me, alpha,” he sobs. 

Harry obliges, bringing his hands up to Louis’ face, closing his lips around Louis’. The omega is quick to open them with his tongue, though, and Harry lets him. He focuses on aiming his thrusts in the right place. 

When their orgasms hit, they are entangled into one another, with Harry’s hands cradling Louis’ face and Louis’ own wrapping around his back. Louis’ legs are hooked around Harry’s waist as the alpha seals the deal with a last deep thrust. Their kiss has turned into simply breathing each other in when Louis comes, full-body shuddering, and Harry finishes in his turn, knot locking deep into Louis. 

There’s not another sound in the room except for their panting breaths. As soon as Harry’s knot forms inside Louis, the alpha collapses back on the bed right on Louis. That and the feeling of Harry’s knot forming and locking inside him make Louis feel content and the safest he’s ever been. 

It’s Harry who recovers from it first. He doesn’t move yet, though, only presses his forehead against Louis’ for a bit, then moves down to slightly rub his nose against the omega’s. Louis hasn’t opened his eyes yet, but he does when Harry starts placing little kisses everywhere on Louis’ face. 

His grin instantly matches Harry’s, who still continues to kiss everywhere he can reach. “How are you feeling,” he whispers a bit after. 

“Perfect,” Louis answers, grateful the alpha hasn’t moved from him yet. 

Louis doesn’t know how long after, probably close to five minutes, Harry moves a little, reaching for something on his nightstand. It ends up being a rag he uses to clean Louis up. “Water?” he asks once he’s done. 

Louis shakes his head. “Just cuddles, please.” 

“Let’s just move a little then,” he says, carefully moving to a spooning position with Louis in his arms. 

There’s not another word for at least half an hour. Harry’s knot hasn’t gone down, but he found them a position where both are comfortable. Louis has taken Harry’s hands in his and gently traces patterns on them while Harry’s nuzzles into Louis’ neck and gently kisses the skin there. 

The silence is comfortable, safe and warm. Louis feels at peace, his mind and soul too.

“Nine point five,” Louis cuts the silence a while after. 

“Huh?” Harry asks, confused. Louis can feel him moving up to see him better.

“Improving your rate. You’re a nine point five now.” 

It lasts a few seconds before Harry snorts, flashbacks to that night probably filling his mind. “Thanks, baby. Why not a ten, though? You seemed to enjoy it tonight with all this moaning and begging.” 

Louis cannot see, but he knows there’s a smirk on Harry’s face right now. “Gotta leave room for improvement,” he answers. 

“Yeah? Is this a challenge?” 

“If you want it to be,” Louis shrugs. 

“It’s a challenge,” Harry confirms. “Will fuck you so good all the way to ten,” he promises, kissing the juncture of Louis’ neck and shoulder. 

“Please do,” Louis giggles, snuggling back against Harry’s body. 

They fall asleep like this, safe and secure in each other’s arms.

***

Harry holds a new exhibition on the 15th of September. 

Louis has been updated on all the details, whether in person or on the phone, and he’s very happy for Harry. 

It’s a week before that Louis realises he still hasn’t bought a ticket. It’s Saturday, so he figures he’ll go to Harry’s flat to ask and maybe stay the night. It’s something that has progressed as the weeks went by. Their dates are still a weekly occurrence, well except for this week and the next one because of Harry’s work, but the alpha promised he’d work hard to make the next two extra good to compensate. 

Louis assured him he didn’t mind, he still doesn’t, but he misses the alpha. He figures sleeping the night won’t bother him. They’ve been doing that lately, sleeping at one place or the other in the middle of the week. They haven’t talked about it in-depth, as it started naturally. After a pub night with friends, Harry had come over for the night then left the morning after, it happened another time when Harry offered Louis to crash for the night after Louis had told him he had a bad day.

Louis makes sure to send him a text, though, just to make sure he isn’t a bother and to check if Harry is actually at his. His positive answer comes quickly so three hours later, Louis knocks on Harry’s door. 

“Hi”, the alpha says, kissing Louis hello. 

“Hey, honey. Had a good day?”

He hums. “Yeah, just dead tired. And my back is sore.” 

“Good thing I’m here then,” Louis smiles. Harry has been complaining about a bad back as far as Louis remembers so he learned a few massage techniques to help.

Harry returns the smile. “Ordered pizza, hope that’s okay?” he asks. “I’m really sorry I won’t be much of a joy tonight.” He moves out of Louis’ space to the couch, and his face looks pained. 

“It’s perfect, yeah,” Louis answers, but then his brows furrow. “What’s going on, babe? What’s wrong?”

Harry sighs. “Nothing, just really knackered. I really wanted to spend time with you because I miss you, but this whole thing is exhausting.” 

“I’m sorry, babe,” Louis says, moving on the couch to be with Harry. “Hey, c’mere,” he says, arms wide open, deciding to take matters into his own hands. “Let’s cuddle you for a bit, then we’ll eat and go to bed, alright?”

“Yeah,” he nods, snuggling back into Louis’ hold. “Thanks, baby,” he turns his head to place a light kiss on Louis’ lips. 

“Don’t mention it,” Louis mumbles, kissing back. 

They follow Louis’ plan: eat quickly once the pizza arrives, then move to the bedroom where Louis gives Harry a quick massage. The lights are off at nine-thirty, Louis’ arms are secured around Harry’s chest, the latter is snuggling back into his hold. It’s when Louis remembers he forgot to ask him about the tickets. 

“Babe?” Louis tentatively whispers, not sure if Harry is already sleeping. Harry hums, so Louis asks. “You haven’t told me where I should buy my ticket for your exhibition.”

“You don’t need one,” Harry croaks out. 

Louis frowns. “What do you mean? Of course, I need one. Or is it that you don’t want me to come?” Louis asks, confused. 

“Of course I want you to, Lou. You just don’t need to buy anything.” 

“But I do?” Louis argues. “I need to buy one to get in, Haz.”

“No, you don’t,” the alpha repeats. “I’m here, you don’t need one.”

What is he saying? Louis is more than confused at this point. He’d love to see Harry’s face right now, to see if he’s actually being serious or only joking around. Louis doesn’t speak again for a minute or two, trying to understand what Harry meant when he said ‘I’m here’, but it still doesn’t make any sense to him. 

“I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand Harry. I don’t know if you’re fucking with me or something—” 

“Why would I fuck with you right now, Louis?” Harry snaps, still not facing Louis. “I told you I was inviting you, meaning you’re my plus one. Plus ones are family or partners we can invite so, no, Louis, you don’t need to pay for a ticket.”

“Partners?”

“Yeah, like spouses or boyfriends and girlfriends. Come on, Lou,” he sighs.

“No, babe, I know what that means,” he chuckles. “Just didn’t know we moved to the,” he marks a pause. “Partner or boyfriend title.”

Louis can see when the alpha realises, Louis feels him freeze against him. “We don’t have to be,” he rushes to say. There’s a thick silence again. “We don’t have to have that title or any title if you don’t want to. I just figured that we had been datin— uhm, seeing each other for a while and were like doing what couples usually do. But anyway, you don’t have to pay for your ticket.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Louis snorts. He’s back to hugging Harry in seconds, forcing the alpha to turn around back in their previous spooning position. “Good night, boyfriend,” he whispers into Harry’s ear. 

He can hear and feel Harry exhale in relief. “Good night, baby. Thank you for tonight,” he murmurs back. 

“You’re welcome,” Louis answers. It’s silent again, but he knows Harry isn’t asleep yet, so Louis decides to tease him once more. “Will buy you something with that money I won’t spend on my ticket. A little congratulation gift, something that boyfriends do.” 

***

It’s a cold and rainy November afternoon where everything is grey. It’s the kind of day you don’t want to leave the bed, and much less the flat. 

It’s a Sunday on top of that, but thankfully Louis isn’t spending it alone. They are at Harry’s. It’s where they spend most of their time because his flat is bigger and better situated than Louis’. Louis has grown really fond of the place. 

They’re in bed, have only left it to eat lunch and shower, there’s a  _ Kiss _ album playing on Harry’s record player, the sound of rain echoes against the window. The smell of vanilla-scented candles fills up the room, fairy lights illuminating it. They are snuggling under the covers, Louis’ head is laying on Harry’s chest while the alpha plays gently with his hair. The silence is comfortable. 

“Love this song,” Louis says as another one comes in. He rolls over on his right to face Harry. He should’ve known the alpha would sing the opening ’do, do, dos’ straight back at him. 

“ _ Tonight _ ,” he dramatically says. “ _ I wanna give it all to you _ . _ In the darkness there's so much I wanna do _ ,” he adds with waggling eyebrows. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Louis laughs. It doesn’t stop the alpha, quite on the contrary. Louis tries to make him stop, to tickle him in vain, the only thing that works for a while is when Louis attacks his lips with kisses. 

Louis is able to stop Harry for the rest of the first two verses and chorus, but the alpha resists. When the second chorus comes in, he breaks the kiss to mumbles the lyrics along Louis’ lips. 

_ I was made for loving you, baby, you were made for loving me, _

_ And I can't get enough of you, baby. Can you get enough of me? _

Louis’ heart misses a beat, and a blush rises to his cheeks. He can’t just say things like that! Especially not singing them directly on Louis’ lips!! 

He lets Harry time to finish with his chorus, also gives himself time for the words to settle in and to convince himself that now is the perfect time to tell him.

Breathe in, breathe out, he thinks, you can tell him. It’s time.

“Hey, H,” he starts. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. Just wasn’t the right time before, but now I think it is.”

“Okay, I’m listening,” he says, looking serious. Louis is grateful he’s taking it seriously and not freaking out yet. 

“You know when we came back home this summer? I went to see my doctor for the bond.” 

“Yeah, I remember,” he nods. If he thought Harry was looking serious earlier, now it’s on a whole other level. 

Louis takes a deep breath. “Well, I told you the diagnosis, but she said something else about the bond.” Harry nods, encouraging him to continue. “I told her the whole story in detail, and she concluded that the bond wasn’t created when we had sex.” 

“Really?” Harry frowns. “Not even because we both had a crush?” 

“She doesn’t think either is the reason. She says it’s stronger,” Louis breathes. 

“How is it possible? What is it that can be stronger?”

“Souls,” Louis smiles. “She thinks it’s a soul bond.” 

Harry’s reaction is priceless. His mouth opens on a gasp, his bright, green eyes widen. His gaze never leaves Louis’. There’s a question on the tip of his tongue, Louis already knows what it is, so he smiles shyly, hoping Harry understands his answer. 

“As in… soulmates?” Harry tentatively says.

Louis quickly nods. He can’t stop smiling. 

He’s rewarded with the biggest, goofiest grin. Their lips find their way to each other in an instant. 

“I told you I was made for loving you,” the alpha grins once he breaks the kiss, sappy as ever.

It hits Louis all over again. Everything comes back all at once. From their first encounter to all these fights, to that one night, and all the days that followed. He thinks back of that trip that made it all possible, to little things, these little attentions that made Louis’ heart soar. He remembers the distress he felt when he was alone in his tent, but then remembers how safe he became when the alpha got inside, how he knew Harry was the one already back then. He recalls these few days alone in Barcelona, those that changed everything. And then these little things that became bigger and recurrent. He thinks of these phone calls and texts, the dates every week, each of them better than the one before. All the morning cuddles, these late nights entangled into one another. He thinks of the rare fights too, those that don’t last really long but still make it real. He thinks of all the days with Harry in his life, how things have changed, how he feels complete with Harry now by his side. 

“I love you,” he declares straight into Harry’s eyes. A little spark appears in them, Louis sees. 

“And I love you, too.” 

Fate really did them good. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> **Prompt 491** : ABO AU After a regrettable one night stand with Harry (whom he despises, yet finds attractive), Omega Louis accidentally forms a temporary bond with the Alpha. To close the bond, they must avoid each for two weeks. Easy, given their mutual dislike. Unfortunately, their friends have planned a nonnegotiable road trip wherein they are forced to share close spaces.
> 
> [Twitter Fic Post](https://twitter.com/cuddlerlouis/status/1337487486986162178?s=20)  
> [Tumblr Fic Post](https://cuddlerlouis.tumblr.com/post/637237307343273984/made-for-lovin-you-explicit-52k-im-in-is-all)


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